Poetry Society of New York

Last updated

The Poetry Society of New York, Inc.
AbbreviationPSNY
FoundersStephanie Berger, Nicholas Adamski
Founded at Brooklyn, New York City, New York
47-3108566
Legal statusActive 501(c)(3) organization
PurposePoetry, Education, Performance
Region
United States, Europe
Membership (2017)
111
AffiliationsActive: The Poetry Brothel, The New York City Poetry Festival, The Typewriter Project Dormant: The Translation Project, The Ear Inn Series, Brothel Books, Quartier Rouge Review
Website https://poetrysocietyny.org
Formerly called
The Poetry Brothel (not incorporated)

The Poetry Society of New York is an American nonprofit organized in the state of New York in 2015. [1] Stephanie Berger and Nicholas Adamski are founding partners. Its mission is finding new and innovative ways to bring together the poetry community with the general public through a series of events and projects. [2] Events are collaborative, interactive and sometimes held in large-scale public venues in contrast to traditional poetry reading formats. [3] Based in New York City, its events are held locally, nationally, in South America and in Europe. The society has published four collections of poetry.

Contents

History and funding

The society began under the name The Poetry Brothel in 2008. [4] It was not incorporated until 2010 using instead the name The Poetry Society of New York, LLC. In 2015, The Poetry Society of New York, LLC was dissolved and The Poetry Society of New York, Inc. was incorporated. [5] The Poetry Society of New York was granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2015 in New York State. [6] The Poetry Brothel is now a program produced by the society. Fundraising currently includes event ticket sales, memberships and financial sponsorships.

Events

The society has three current and four retired projects and events:

NameStatusDescription
New York City Poetry FestivalCurrentAn annual event held on Governors Island in New York City
The Poetry BrothelCurrentInteractive poetry readings set in the environment of a classic brothel
The Typewriter ProjectCurrentA series of interactive public art installations that invites the public to write poetry
Brothel BooksRetiredEditing and publishing poetry collections
The Ear Inn SeriesRetiredRevival of a poetry event held in an historic New York City bar
Quartier Rouge ReviewRetiredAn online video literary magazine
Translation ProjectRetiredPoetry translation and publishing

Current projects

The New York City Poetry Festival

The festival was first organized in 2010 and is funded in part by an annual Kickstarter campaign [7] as well as sponsors that, in 2016, included the Brooklyn Brewery, The New School, New York State Council on the Arts, The Poetry Table and the Vermont College of Fine Arts. [8] The two-day poetry festival is held annually on Governors Island and features more than 200 poets. [9] According to The New York Times, the 2015 event was expected to attract 4,000 attendees. [10] Attendees for the 2016 festival attracted residents of West Virginia, Florida, New Jersey and "a poetry journal staffed by students from around the world." [11] LiteraryManhattan.org stated in 2016 that the festival is "one of the largest poetry festivals in the country" and "features an open mic area, where attendees can explore their poetic voices; a Vendor's Village, where artists, artisans, booksellers and food-makers can sell their products; and poetry-generating, interactive art installations throughout." [12] The winner of the 6th Annual Clint Eastwood Award for American Poetry was announced at the 2016 after-party held at Fraunces Tavern Restaurant. [13]

The Poetry Brothel

The brothel experience is described in various sources as an interactive descent into a Victorian brothel or Prohibition-era Speakeasy populated with "whores" that are portrayed by male and female actors, artists and poets. Brothel events are a blend of burlesque, Vaudeville and poetic performances, the sum of which has been referred to as a "think tank for art." [14] [15] CultureTrip rated the brothel as one of ten suggested "Places To Experience Poetry Readings in NYC." [16] The Poetry Brothel has been staged in and/or maintains sister organizations in:

ContinentCities/States
North America Cambridge, Chicago, Edmonton, Kingston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Vermont
Europe Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Leicester, London, Paris, Reykjavík
South America Bogotá, Caracas, Valparaíso

Past readers and performers include: Ariana Reines (2008), David Lehman (2008), Dorianne Laux (2009), Dorothea Lasky (2012), Karen Abbott (2015), Mark Doty (2013), Matthea Harvey (2015), Patricia Smith (2008), Paul Muldoon (2013), Robert Pinsky (2016), and Timothy Donnelly (2013).

The 2011 film "Cabaret Desire" by Erika Lust was based on The Poetry Brothel's events. [17]

The Typewriter Project

The Typewriter Project is an interactive installation where a Smith Corona Sterling typewriter housed in a wooden hut is loaded with a 100-foot roll of paper and a custom USB port that records typed words and provides Internet access to the content. This technology provides further interactive participation with the text online. [18] [19] A solar generator powers it. [20] [21] The installation is set up for limited periods in various parks and venues in New York City including McCarren Park, [22] Governors Island, Tompkins Square Park [23] and the Pen & Brush Gallery. [24] [25] Writer-contributors at the interactive typewriter installations include passersby as well as amateur writers and professional poets.

Retired projects

Brothel Books Publications

The society published three books of collected poetry under the imprint "The Poetry Society of New York, LLC & Brothel Books" during its active period between 2010 and 2012. A fourth book was published in handmade form.

The Ear Inn Series

In 2013, the society resurrected the Ear Inn Series, founded by Ted Greenwald and Charles Bernstein. The series was dormant after a 20-year run that began in 1978. [26] The series was hosted at the James Brown House in TriBeCa, which in turn houses The Ear Inn restaurant and bar. During the society's revival of the series, the tradition of focusing on language poetry continued. [27] The society's revival of the series was active between 2013 and 2014.

Quartier Rouge Revue

The Quartier Rouge Revue was a quarterly literary video journal started in 2011. [28] It suspended operation in 2012.

The Translation Project

The project began in 2010 and published one book, "The Translation Project: The Poetry Brothel Poets, Spain and The United States, Volume I.” The project’s goal was to translate new poetry into several languages and publish them monthly. It has been on hiatus since 2012.

Controversy

Prior to the society’s first Poetry Brothel event, an organization in Brighton, England held an event by the same name. The controversy is referenced in a reader’s comment posted in an article by The Guardian dated October 24, 2014 titled "Poetry Brothel puts the bawd in bard" [29] and The Review Review references another rival in Chicago, Illinois, which was started by The Poetry Society of New York but later went independent. [30] There are no public records indicating legal action between any of the aforementioned entities.

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Muldoon</span> Irish poet

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Holman</span> American poet and poetry activist

Bob Holman is an American poet and poetry activist, most closely identified with the oral tradition, the spoken word, and poetry slam. As a promoter of poetry in many media, Holman has spent the last four decades working variously as an author, editor, publisher, performer, emcee of live events, director of theatrical productions, producer of films and television programs, record label executive, university professor, and archivist. He was described by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in The New Yorker as "the postmodern promoter who has done more to bring poetry to cafes and bars than anyone since Ferlinghetti."

Nicole Blackman is a New York City–born performance artist, poet, author, and vocalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Doty</span> American poet and memoirist (born 1953)

Mark Doty is an American poet and memoirist best known for his work My Alexandria. He was the winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emanuel Xavier</span> American poet

Emanuel Xavier, is an American poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, and LGBTQ activist born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Associated with the East Village, Manhattan arts scene in New York City, he emerged from the ball culture scene to become one of the first openly gay poets from the Nuyorican movement as a successful writer and advocate for gay youth programs and Latino gay literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival</span>

The biennialGeraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest poetry event in North America. The 16th edition, and 30th anniversary, of the biannual event took place in Newark, New Jersey, October 20–23, 2016. The next festival will take place in Newark, 20–23 October 2022, as 2020 took place virtually.

Grace Cavalieri is an American poet, playwright, and radio host of the Library of Congress program The Poet and the Poem. In 2019, she was appointed the tenth Poet Laureate of Maryland.

FIGMENT is an annual participatory arts event that began on Governors Island in New York Harbor, United States in 2007, and has since spread to a number of other cities. The mission of FIGMENT is to provide a forum for community-based participatory art and experience. FIGMENT strives to build community among artists and participants, to foster the participatory arts in New York City, and to demonstrate a vision for the future of Governors Island as an international arts destination. FIGMENT is a community-based event organized and run by volunteers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Rosenthal</span> American photographer, novelist, diarist, poet

Barbara Ann Rosenthal is an American avant-garde artist, writer and performer. Rosenthal's existential themes have contributed to contemporary art and philosophy. Rosenthal's pseudonyms are "Homo Futurus," which was taken from the title of one of her books, and "Cassandra-on-the-Hudson," which alludes to "the dangerous world she envisions" while creating art in her studio and residence on the Hudson River in Greenwich Village, NYC. Rosenthal successfully trademarked "Homo Futurus" in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynne Sachs</span> American experimental filmmaker (born 1961)

Lynne Sachs is an American experimental filmmaker and poet living in Brooklyn, New York. Her moving image work ranges from documentaries, to essay films, to experimental shorts, to hybrid live performances. Working from a feminist perspective, Sachs weaves together social criticism with personal subjectivity. Her films embrace a radical use of archives, performance and intricate sound work. Between 2013 and 2020, she collaborated with musician and sound artist Stephen Vitiello on five films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megapolis Festival</span>

The Megapolis Audio Festival is a weekend-long event dedicated to the art of sound and to do-it-yourself (DIY) culture. The festival serves as a forum for artists, documentarians, musicians, and fans to come together to share secrets on producing and presenting challenging audio works online, on-air, and on the stage. Traveling to a new city each year to connect artists from around the world with local artists and arts organizations, MEGAPOLIS remains an affordable event where people of all ages can educate and inspire each other to hear the world differently.

Charlie Morrow is an American sound artist, composer, conceptualist, and performer. His creative projects have included chanting and healing works, museum and gallery installations, large-scale festival events, radio and TV broadcasts, film soundtracks, commercial sound design, and advertising jingles.

Aldo Tambellini was an Italian-American artist. He pioneered electronic intermedia, and was a painter, sculptor, and poet. He died at age 90, in November 2020.

Harvestworks is a not-for-profit arts organization located in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by artists supporting the creation and presentation of art works achieved through the use of new technologies. The Harvestworks TEAM Lab supports the creation of art works achieved through the use of new and evolving technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate Week NYC</span> Annual charity event

Climate Week NYC is a charity event that takes place in New York City every year. Its purpose is to promote climate action by appealing to "business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers and civil society representatives". Climate Week NYC is run by Climate Group. It is the largest of the organization's annual flagship international events, and the largest annual climate event of its kind according to the organizers.

Chris Parkinson is a writer, poet and prankster from Brighton, UK. He has been writing and performing poetry since 2004. In 2007 he was co-founder of the world's first Poetry Brothel, an interactive poetry event which won several awards and inspired subsequent poetry brothels in New York, Leicester, Barcelona and Chicago. He has released three collections of poetry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT culture in New York City</span>

New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stonewall National Monument</span> U.S. National Monument in Manhattan, New York

Stonewall National Monument is a 7.7-acre (3.1 ha) U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the 0.19-acre (0.077 ha) Christopher Park, and nearby streets including Christopher Street, the site of the Stonewall riots of June 28, 1969, widely regarded as the start of the modern LGBT rights movement in the United States.

Anime NYC is an annual three-day anime convention held during August at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was a series of LGBTQ events and celebrations in June 2019, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was also the first time WorldPride was held in the United States. Held primarily in the metropolitan New York City area, the theme for the celebrations and educational events was "Millions of moments of Pride." The celebration was the largest LGBTQ event in history, with an official estimate of 5 million attending Pride weekend in Manhattan alone, with an estimated 4 million in attendance at the NYC Pride March. The twelve-hour parade included 150,000 pre-registered participants among 695 groups.

References

  1. ↑ "Charity Navigator" . Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  2. ↑ "The Poetry Society". The Lower Manhattan Community Council. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  3. ↑ "The Poetry Brothel, Creative Writing at the New School" . Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Events We Like: The 2nd Annual New York City Poetry Festival". Columbia University School of the Arts. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Divisions of Corporations and Entities". New York State Department of State. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  6. ↑ "And the Wind Through the Trees Was Too Loud". YBNY.com. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Kickstarter" . Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  8. ↑ "New York City Poetry Festival" . Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  9. ↑ "New York City Poetry Festival". Time Out New York. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ Wolfe, Jonathan (July 23, 2015). "The New York City Poetry Festival Expands on Governors Island". The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Take a Blotter of Free Verse at the New York Poetry Fest on Governors Island". Bedford and Bowery. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Poetry Society of New York Expands Festival". Literary Manhattan. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  13. ↑ "New York Poetry Fest on Governors Island". World Poetry Movement. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  14. ↑ "A Look at New York's Poetry Brothel". New York Observer. September 28, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  15. ↑ "The Joy of Poetry". The New Yorker. August 19, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  16. ↑ "10 Places to Experience Poetry Readings in NYC". CultureTrip. February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Cabaret Desire: Sexy and Seductive New Film from Erika Lust". Good Vibes. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
  18. ↑ "The Typewriter Project". Jeff Hoefs. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Typewriter Project". Subconscious of the City. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  20. ↑ "A Roving Typewriter Records the Subconscious of New York City". Hyerallergic. July 6, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  21. ↑ "The Typewriter Project NYC". Typosphere Blog. June 16, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  22. ↑ "The Typewriter Project: The Subconscious of the City Opening Picnic". New York City Parks. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  23. ↑ "The Typewriter Project: Tompkins Square Park". Vertical Response. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  24. ↑ "Events". New York Art Beat. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  25. ↑ "The Typewriter Project". Architect's Newspaper. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Ear Inn, NYC". University of Pennsylvania, "PennSound". Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Ear Inn Series to Debut with Hong, Hosea, Reynolds". Coldfront Magazine. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Every Writer, Listings". Every Writer Resource. March 9, 2012. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  29. ↑ "Poetry Brothel puts the bawd in bard". The Guardian. October 28, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  30. ↑ "New York Vs. Chicago: A Poetry Brothel Controversy". The Review Review. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.