|
Discover new poets,
and witness poetry’s power to serve as a catalyst for social change,
through an extraordinary lineup of spoken word events at the Arts Center
and venues across Newark.
A new year-long collaboration between NJPAC and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation,
the 2024 Dodge Poetry initiative,
will spotlight the impact of poetry read aloud.
Each event will feature remarkable poets and verses that illustrate
poetry’s capacity to serve as a potent catalyst for social change. Adults
and young people alike will have an opportunity to hear, read and write
their own poems at these events, which include: Weekly outdoor poetry
readings at the Arts Center’s beloved Horizon Sounds of the City
summer concert series, Thursday evenings starting June 27; a night with
the poets of the famed Nuyorican Poets Café at NJPAC on
July 20; and a series of poetry workshops for teens at community centers
and other locations across the city lead by Rutgers-Newark Poetry MFA
graduate students and alumni.
In October, a year’s worth of exploration into poetry as performance and
poetry as activism will culminate in the 20th Dodge Poetry Festival, held on
the NJPAC campus and in venues throughout Newark’s downtown. Poets
including Joan Baez,
Nikki Giovanni,
Mahogany Browne,
Tyehimba Jess,
Claudia Rankine, Sonia Sanchez and
more will appear at the festival, which will include exciting
performances of poetry combined with R&B, jazz and hip hop, as well
as a family-friendly Poetry Fair in Military Park, a Young Artists Day
when aspiring writers can interact with their favorite authors, and an
opening night open-mic hosted by Newark’s own EvoluCulture. A full
schedule of festival events will be released over the summer; tickets for
the festival go on sale July 19 at NJPAC.org.
|
