Community Arts Access Project

Establish relationships with agencies that serve immigrant communities in our region, with the intention of Increasing their attendance and participation at Verse Like Water events. We will focus on the Hispanic and Somali communities. We will reach out to Mr. Roccio Fernandez-Lugo, the Hispanic Liaison/Family Worker at Long Prairie Grey Eagle Schools, and Somali leaders from the Council on American-Islamic Relations to get the word out and determine ways to get the people they serve to the events. 85% of workshop attendees who respond to the survey will agree or strongly agree that the reading and workshop has added value to their lives and changed attitudes about literary art. Utilizing the Verse Like Water Advisory Board, to strengthen relationships with the Brainerd Public Library and the Crossing Arts Alliance, as well as the Brainerd Senior Citizen's Center, with intention of broadening awareness of these poetry opportunities, and increasing attendance of their constituents. Continue to generate major media interest in cultural events, particularly Verse Like Water. The Brainerd Dispatch, KAXE, and Lakeland Public Television typically cover our events, which is good for poetry, and Five Wings Arts Council. We will survey audience members/workshop participants to obtain demographic data on the audience, and use this to determine if we are successful in our efforts to have more. All attendees will be given an evaluation/survey (printed on card stock, so it doesn't rustle during the reading). On the survey, we will enlist the Likert scale. In addition to demographic questions, there will be questions, both numerical and open-ended, to see if audience members might have been changed regarding how they feel about the arts, poets, and poetry, which is what this entire project is trying to illuminate as well as quality of life. Interviews and anecdotal evidence will be used to assess if we, working with your Verse Like Water Advisory Board, have successfully brought new audience members to this event from Crossing Arts Alliance, the Brainerd Public Library and the Brainerd Senior Citizens Center. 4) We will track and document media coverage. This is likely to be state-wide news, we anticipate coverage by MPR, as well as Lakeland Public Television, who will be running a Common Ground documentary about the Terrance Hayes event of October 2015.