Marshall University students came together Monday with live music and soulful poetry at Black Koffee in Marco’s Lounge.

Sophomore Myshea Bailey and graduate assistant Derek Robinson created the new event.

“I feel like that is what we lack here at Marshall,” Bailey said. “There are so many people on campus that are creative, and I thought this would be a nice event to have an open platform for people to share their talent with everyone.”

The mic was open to students who wanted to perform and show the crowd what they can do.

Public Relations major Michael Brown said it was his first time reading his work in front of an audience.

“I thought performing tonight was really liberating,” Brown said. “I’ve never read anything I’ve written out loud in front of an audience, so it felt really free and nice to let other people hear what I write daily.”

Yaris Mason, junior psychology major, said he was nervous at first, but the audience made the experience fun.

“It was actually really nerve-racking at first, but once I got up there it was really fun,” Mason said. “I had a lot of support from the audience, and that made it so much better.”

Students applauded the creativity behind the event and expressed interest in seeing more like it in the future.

“This event showed that people express themselves in different ways so the campus should be more open to having unique events like this to bring the masses out,” Mason said. “A lot of people may not be interested in sporting events or other events that we always have on campus. My favorite part was seeing everyone on the mic being comfortable, and I really appreciate that it was a relaxed intimate feel, like we are all family.”

Bailey said events like this will continue on campus every month, including live music and guest speakers.

“I want people to take away that art is in all forms and we are all different for a reason,” Bailey said. “It is okay to appreciate creativity and to appreciate your uniqueness and love it.”

Nichole Henderson can be contacted at [email protected].