Genre: Fiction

K.C. Scharnberg, program director of Fresh Arts, a multidisciplinary arts service organization in Houston, Texas, shares her thoughts on its P&W–supported Inky Improv event and the Houston literary scene.

What makes your organization unique?
Fresh Arts hosts professional development and networking events for artists in all fields and at all skill levels. We strive to support the professional growth of Houston’s art community and help make the starving artist a cliché of the past.
 
What recent project have you been especially proud of?
My favorite event sprang from a quirky idea to pair unlikely yet complementary groups of artists. With support from P&W, we hosted Inky Improv, an event that paired the visual arts group Sketchy Neighbors with the writers group NANO Fiction.

Four writers and four artists each got a five-word phrase suggested by an audience member. They had ten minutes to draw or write something inspired by the prompt. If the prompt began with an artist, they handed their work over to a writer, and vice versa. Each person created a story or drawing to finish the piece over the next ten minutes. When the clock stopped, each writer and artist took turns presenting the final creations.

It was an exceptionally fun night, and we hope it becomes an annual event.

How do you cultivate an audience?
We provide a strong network for local artists online in our Artist Registry and off-line with our programs and services. We pay close attention to what’s happening in the community and reach artists working in all disciplines. In addition, we strive to offer relevant and high-quality programs and services based on feedback (surveys and personal conversations) from the artist community. When people feel like a company listens and responds to them, they tend to be more loyal.

What do you consider to be the value of literary programs for your community?
In the same way that a piece of music or art can bring out deep emotion from a person, literature can stimulate the senses in a way that creates a more fulfilling life experience.

Houston has a rich literary community and audiences that truly appreciate what literary programs contribute to our culture. For example, the Poison Pen Reading Series is a monthly series that takes place at a local bar and is enormously popular. It draws in all kinds of people and celebrates literature, while making it less intimidating and more accessible.

Writers in the Schools, one of my favorite organizations, engages children in the pleasure and power of reading and writing through in-school and after-school programs, professional development for teachers, and community programs celebrating the great work and development of the youth with whom they work. They have impacted the community in a major way over the years.

Additionally, the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program is one of the best in the country, which is a source of pride amongst the literary-loving community. We are fortunate enough to benefit from the groundswell of literary contributions from the students, faculty, and graduates who choose to make Houston their home.

Photo: Inky Improv participants at work. Credit: Fresh Arts.

Support for Readings/Workshops events in Houston is provided by an endowment established with generous contributions from the Poets & Writers Board of Directors and others. Additional support comes from the Friends of Poets & Writers.

Poet and English professor Caroline Maun blogs about P&W–sponsored The @ Noon Reading Series, held at Wayne State University in Detriot. Maun's poetry collections include The Sleeping, and Cures and Poisons. She is also the editor of The Collected Poetry of Evelyn Scott. 

The @ Noon Reading Series began at Wayne State University during the 2010 winter semester. That first year, we paired creative writing faculty from the English department with student writers. In subsequent years we have showcased some of the finest poets and writers from the southeast Michigan region and beyond, and have continued to pair our guests with up-and-coming student writers. Since 2010, the series has enjoyed growing popularity and success with six public readings and one public workshop.

We managed to fund the first two years of the series with modest support from our department budget. This year, thanks to funding from Poets & Writers, we were able to extend the series considerably. This was helpful during a time when university budgets are shrinking, but also when creative activity in our city is burgeoning. It was great to provide this venue to wonderful artists and offer excellent programming to our students and the community. 

We have a collaborative approach to programming. Creative writing faculty select a date and a guest to invite to read and then find the student who is available and will compliment the featured guest’s work. Our students read for fifteen minutes. Our featured readers read for twenty to twenty-five minutes, and there is time for discussion afterwards. We offer coffee and snacks in our lounge where audience members continue the conversation. This semester, we regularly attracted audiences of twenty-five to fifty students, community members, faculty, and staff of the university.

Featured poets this year have included Matthew Olzmann, Vievee Francis, Keith Taylor, and Rob Halpern, and writers Lynn Crawford and Mitch and Megan Ryder. Student poets and writers have included Vincent Perrone, Aricka Foreman, John Kalogerakos, Jill Darling, Mathew Polzin, and Ricardo Castano IV.  One of the many highlights was Vievee Francis reading from Horse in the Dark, a poetry collection forthcoming from Northwestern University Press characterized by personal lyrics, which is a departure from the persona poetry in her first poetry book, Blue-Tail Fly. She was joined by student poet Aricka Foreman. Another highlight was Lynn Crawford reading from Simply Separate People, Two, accompanied by student writer Matthew Polzin. During the question-and-answer session, poets as well as fiction writers engaged with Lynn’s work enthusiastically for its condensed, lyrical style.

Jennifer LoPiccolo, one of my very talented students, commented on the series: “I make it a point to attend The @ Noon Series because I gain exposure to various forms of poetry and fiction that help me to hone my own work. Wayne’s creative writing students share a stage with our guest readers, which allows the audience to draw connections between their peers and more accomplished writers. While taking notes on both, I see the gap between my friends and the authors on my shelf narrow. It’s a rewarding hour."

We are looking forward to planning next year’s series and continuing this rich supplement to classroom experiences for our students.

Photo: Lynn Crawford and Matthew Polzin.  Credit: Caroline Maun.

Support for Readings/Workshops events in Detroit is provided by an endowment established with generous contributions from Poets & Writers Board of Directors and others. Additional support comes from the Friends of Poets & Writers.