Poetry

Urban Grace is committed to supporting arts and artists of all genres within our city. The Soul of the City Poetry Competition which identifies the year’s Poet Laureate was created and funded by Urban Grace in a community partnership with the city of Tacoma. The program is now coordinated through the City of Tacoma’s Arts Commission. Tacoma is the first mid-sized municipality north of San Francisco and west of Denver to recognize its own poet laureate, and follows the example of San Francisco in basing its Poet Laureate in residence at one of the city’s congregations.

Why? Tacoma has a thriving arts community, as evidenced by our many museums, theaters, and rich calendar of arts events. Similarly, the city has a vibrant literary scene, with regular poetry readings hosted by groups such as the Puget Sound Poetry Connection and Speak Your Soul. Naming a Poet Laureate helps to focus attention on our existing literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and to encourage new writers by visiting schools and community organizations.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2011

MEDIA CONTACTS
Naomi Strom-Avila, Community and Economic Development, nstrom-avila@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5191
Karrie Spitzer, Community Relations, karrie.spitzer@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5790

2011-13 Tacoma Poet Laureate announced
The Tacoma Arts Commission selected Josie Emmons Turner as the 2011-2013 Poet Laureate for the City of Tacoma. The Tacoma Poet Laureate program was founded in 2008 by the Urban Grace Church as a way of focusing attention on Tacoma’s literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and workshops in local schools and at community events.

Over the next two years, Emmons Turner will provide free poetry related workshops, readings at public events, participate in Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month each November and will help produce the 2013 Tacoma Poet Laureate ceremony to announce the next Poet Laureate.

In conjunction with National Poetry Month, the Tacoma Arts Commission will host a poetry reading event at which Emmons Turner will officially be awarded the position. The free, public event will be held Thursday, April 28, from 7 – 8:30 p. m. at Bellaballs Studio in downtown Tacoma (747 S. Fawcett St.).

Emmons Turner’s poetry has been published in 20/20 Tacoma in Images and Verse, 2010 Floating Bridge Review Number 3, In Tahoma’s Shadow, California Quarterly, and Backstreet Review. She received her Masters of Fine Arts through the Rainier Writers Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and her Bachelor of Arts from Seattle University. She has been a creative writing educator for five years, currently with Clover Park High School.

Information about the Tacoma Poet Laureate program, which transitioned to the City of Tacoma’s Arts Program in 2011, is available on the Tacoma Arts Commission website at http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/PoetLaureate.asp.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 30, 2010

MEDIA CONTACTS
Naomi Strom-Avila, Community and Economic Development, nstrom-avila@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5191

Taryn Kloster, Urban Grace, tkloster@urbangracetacoma.org, (253) 272-2184 (ext.104)
Karrie Spitzer, Community Relations, karrie.spitzer@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5790

Tacoma Poet Laureate to be administered through Tacoma Arts Commission in 2011

Urban Grace Church and the Tacoma Arts Commission are excited to announce the transition of the Tacoma Poet Laureate program to the City of Tacoma’s Arts Program in 2011.

In November 2010, Tad Monroe, senior pastor at Urban Grace Church, presented a request to the Tacoma Arts Commission to assume administration of the program.

“It was our intent at Urban Grace to use the Poet Laureate position as a way of increasing the exposure of poets and the poetry community in Tacoma and we feel we’ve done that,” said Monroe. “By transitioning the program to the Tacoma Arts Commission and partnering with them, we feel we are creating the kind of capacity and relationships to grow and sustain the program in years to come.”

The program was founded in 2008 by Urban Grace Church as a way of focusing attention on Tacoma’s literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and workshops in local schools and at community events.

“It’s exciting to have the City of Tacoma step up and become involved in supporting poetry in Tacoma,” said current Poet Laureate Tammy Robacker. “The resources, staff, visibility and creativity of the City will only serve to grow this important program and keep a powerful genre of the literary arts thriving locally.”
Urban Grace Church is recognized as a founding partner of the program and will remain involved by providing transitional oversight, a free location for performances and workshops and participating in support roles as requested.

Under the City’s direction, the Poet Laureate program terms will be for two years. Applications for the 2011-2113 Tacoma Poet Laureate position will be available in mid-January 2011.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2011