ABOUT US
Established in 1997, Incite Magazine is McMaster University’s independent arts and culture publication featuring personal essays, fiction, poetry, commentary, research, interviews, sketches, photography, paintings, digital art, and more. We aim to foster the growth of a creative community promoting self-expression, collaboration, and dialogue within our university campus and city of Hamilton. Every aspect of Incite’s writing, graphics, layout, video, and event production is carried out by our wonderful student volunteers.
We publish 2-3 issues of students' work per year, and usually distribute printed copies of our issues across campus and around the nearby Hamilton area. These printed copies often become keepsakes for contributors and casual readers alike. Our issues are also available online, and we're especially proud to be able to provide these platforms for voices from different disciplines to connect in a collaborative and supportive space, away from grades and sheer academia.
Every issue we put out has a theme—usually a single word or phrase—and that theme becomes a springboard to inspire contributors of all mediums to provide their personal interpretations. To kick off each issue's production cycle, our staff team facilitates a brainstorming session where interested students can meet other creatives and generate ideas for what piece they would like to take on next. Afterwards, all students are encouraged to make a pitch for what work they would like to submit, and then they have the opportunity to work one-on-one with our wonderful and meticulous editors and art managers before our layout editors work their magic to produce our issues' polished pages.
Throughout each year, the Incite team also collaborates with other community groups as one of the university's largest initiatives dedicated to the creative arts. We often hold events and workshops that are open to all in order to foster community-building, stemming from our shared interests in the arts and advocacy.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the support that we receive from the McMaster student body. Incite is funded by a levy collected from each McMaster student as part of their tuition. We request and receive approval for our funding on an annual basis via the Student Representative Assembly (SRA).