The Beatniks are at it again. On Sept. 18, the Beatniks, the University of Alaska's English Club will host their first Open Mic of the new school year.

With the Housing Lodge set up as a coffee shop and their distinctive brick wall in the background, the mic is open for poetry, prose, music, and even dance. The UAS event is truly an all-inclusive gathering for the community.

Club president Kaleigh Lambert said they’ve had everything from the standard poetry to accordions and interpretive dancing. People have even plugged in their iPods and sang.

“Our main goal is to have an outlet for students,” Lambert said. “It’s open to anything. We’ve have interpretive dancing, we’ve had it all.”

And the Open Mics are a place for the timid and beginning artists as well.

“Usually all the people that come are either scared our of their minds to get up and speak in front of people or they've been there, they’ve done that before and they’ve had to overcome that fear themselves,” Lambert said.

Lambert tells the story of one guitarist who performed last spring,

 “She had only played three times in her entire life, except for like practicing. It was obvious that she hadn’t played that much but everyone was hardcore cheering her on, when she decided (to go on). She was like ‘Ok, this is probably really painful, I should probably just go’ and we’re like ‘No, you should keep playing because you're really good’ ... Everyone was cheering her on and they wanted her to stay up there. And then she got a standing ovation when she left.”

There will be several differences between this event and those of last spring. Whereas before, performers had to sign up and then wait for their name to be called, Lambert said, “This time we're just going to leave the mic there and have people come up there as they want. Literally, an open mic. The mic is open, you get to take it.”

Lambert is also encouraging faculty members and other groups at UAS to come and plug their events. “We want people to use us as an outlet,” Lambert said.

And the Beatniks also want to emphasis that the Open Mic is a community event. “It’s not just a housing thing. Which has been difficult to promote it because people assume that if it's at the lodge then it's just a housing thing, but it's not. It's open to everyone. It’s open to the public.”

Lambert especially wants to get the University faculty and staff up the hill.

The Beatniks have big plans for this year, including bringing up speakers from the lower-48 and putting on a gallery walk at the REC in October, but the Open Mic is their signature event.

“It’s such a diverse group and it’s so different between some of the poetry you hear and some of the contemporary music people play or classical piano that people are playing or some of the artwork that people put on display,” Lambert said.

“Everything is so different and everybody’s so open about what other people have to share that they’re more excited that people are sharing and they have this community to come and share their art with that they’d rather have people come who might be a little bit nervous and encourage them to come back then not have them there.”

The event goes from 7 to 9 p.m. at the UAS Housing Lodge and refreshments will be provided.