Southeastern Libraries Cooperating Legacy Grant SFY 2010 - SFY 2011

Total Number of Programs Held: 98
Total Attendance: 31,757
Total Number of Partnerships: 140

In-Kind Staff and Partnership Contributions: $154,985

Program Highlights
Poetic Strokes
The Poetic Strokes contest called for local poets to submit an original piece to be considered for publication in the regional anthology, Poetic Strokes. This would be the fourth volume in the Poetic Strokes series – previous contests took place in 1999-2001 and had ceased due to limited funding. The revival of Poetic Strokes was a definite need in the SELCO region as library staff and patrons were looking for an opportunity to showcase the talent in southeastern Minnesota.

118 poets submitted a total of 280 poems for judging from 30 different communities, representing all 11 SELCO counties. 42 poems by 30 poets were selected by the judging panel for publication in the 2010 Poetic Strokes anthology.

After publication, 1,500 copies of Poetic Strokes were provided to the contributing poets, SELCO member libraries, and members of the Minnesota Legislature, including the Governor. A local selected poet mentioned the Poetic Strokes contest in her blog, and Minnesota Governor Pawlenty sent a signed letter of thanks and appreciation to SELCO staff for promoting reading and literature.

SELCO staff surveyed all participating poets and found it was a wonderful experience for most all participants. 100% of participating poets returning surveys found that the Poetic Strokes contest met their expectations, was enjoyable, and increased interest in writing poetry. 78% of participating poets returning surveys said they were more likely to submit to future Poetic Strokes contests and other writing contests. 89% of participating poets returning surveys were more likely to read local poets and poetry in general, and 78% were more likely to connect with other local poets.

100% of surveyed library patrons thought Poetic Strokes enhanced their knowledge and understanding of local poets, increased their interest in reading and writing poetry, and made them more likely to attend future poetry workshops and readings at the library.

SELCO is committed to improving the collection process of outcomes for the second year of Poetic Strokes by increasing ways to publicize to hit more of the SELCO’s 11 counties to increase participation and to work closely with writers groups to establish poetry readings and workshops around the SELCO region.

Bringing Spanish Poetry to Life in SE Minnesota
Bringing Spanish Poetry to Life in SE Minnesota brought the Deborah Elias Danza Española Company (St. Paul, MN) to five communities in southeastern Minnesota. The program provided both classroom lecture/demonstrations and public performances of “The Moon’s Desire.” Both of these activities focused on acquainting the audience with poet Federico García Lorca and Spanish poetry in general as well as Spanish music and dance.

Throughout the course of the program, 12 partners assisted in the delivery of performances. The schools not only provided students and classroom time, the Spanish classes studied poetry and traditional dance weeks prior to the presentations. The public libraries assisted in promotion for the public performances with displays of relevant library material to attract attention. Other organizations either hosted the public performance and/or assisted with additional promotion and program preparation.

The 20 classroom presentations were attended by 586 students. The four public performances had a total of 283 attendees. Combined, there were 869 audience members for this program. All survey respondents said there was an increase in their awareness of Lorca and of the flamenco dancing style. The public performances yielded a desire to learn more of Spanish poetry and the students said they learned more of the language and culture of Spain. Amusingly, one student at LaCrescent found ways around her schedule to attend the program in three different classes.