Artist Access Grant

My poems will focus on people, locations and community work being done in the area, so my goal is to curate poems that resonate with those humans. Therefore, I will know that I have achieved my goal with this activity if the poems are well-received with the businesses and individuals I am writing them for or about. Having completed the book itself, I know that my goal will have been completed while it's printed, in my hands, and events are booked for sharing these poems. I'd like to create a survey that can be completed by people who have read or interacted with the chapbook as I begin to share it. Having completed surveys in-hand will also help me know that I have achieved my goal. I'd like to perform and focus on this book at places I am writing about. Since I will share poems directly with businesses and individuals, I will have concrete feedback from how they feel about what I am writing either through messages, emails or surveys. And I am hoping that over time, the words I am writing will encourage Duluthians to engage with their community more directly. And to participate in the local economy more. For instance, I want the Zinema to be attended or thought of before the Marcus theater. For Dovetail Cafe to be thought of before Starbucks. For Duluthians to spend more time by the lake, or create art about it. Some of those ideas will take more time, but if the poems I am writing resonate with Duluthians, I will have done my job both as a writer and performer. In future grants and projects, I would like to curate a regular local arts journal that is dethatched from academia. Ideally, this book will also motivate individuals to create their own writing and art with the understanding that art is a way that we engage with each other within a community.