The Art of Access
INSPIRATION 101
ANNE MARIE WELLSMeet the Collaborators Behind Workshops for the Working Class
The Poetry Lab has organized our first-ever presentation panel, Workshops for the Working Class, which has been accepted to this year’s AWP Conference! We have been hard at work with three fellow workshop founders in the Los Angeles poetry community to present a discussion on how we practice community outreach, run our organizations, and teach our workshops! Each of these organizations works outside of traditional academia to bridge the access gap between art literacy and class in our communities. The panel is set to take place Friday, March 25, 2022 at 10:35am inside the Philadelphia Convention Center (Room 118BC, Level 100 if you are going to be there!). For now, please allow us to introduce you to our collaborators:
SURPRISE THE LINE
Surprise the Line is an occasional poetry workshop based in Long Beach, California, on the traditional homeland of the Tongva people. It was founded by Nancy Lynee Woo, whose mission is to spread joy and foster the necessity of creativity everywhere.
Nancy is an estimable member of both the Long Beach Los Angeles poetry communities, and she has championed a virtual community that extends far beyond the greater LA area throughout the pandemic. In 2020, she started a daily writing session called Rise & Shine; it lasted for six months and provided consistency for poets and their writing in uncertain times. In addition, every workshop Nancy hosts ensures a safe space where connection and healing can blossom.
Nancy is a 2022 Artists at Work fellow; she brings arts programming to community gardens. The Poetry Lab and Surprise the Line emphasize building and emboldening communities. Both of our organizations provide accessible workshops that are more affordable and just as beneficial as many university creative writing classes. We’re both very excited to speak on Workshops for the Working Class.
SPOKEN LITERATURE ART MOVEMENT
Spoken Literature Art Movement (S.L.A.M.) LLC was founded in 2017 with the goal of uplifting poets in the Los Angeles community and beyond. S.L.A.M. is run by Alyesha Wise and Matthew “Cuban” Hernandez, whose goals are to encourage the necessary connection between poetry and community. They work to remind people of the connection between art, words, and our bodies.
In the Los Angeles poetry community, Alyesha Wise is a leader of leaders. She has mentored poets in our community such as recent Sunday Series Visiting Artist Christian Perfas. She’s been Director of Program Development for Street Poets, Inc., a mentor at Get Lit Words Ignite, a coach for the Da Poetry Lounge slam team. Alyesha’s TEDx Talk (highly recommend) examines the struggles of finding yourself in a world low on creative role models for young black girls. In her poetry, Alyesha speaks with a sharp vibrancy, both lyrical and gritty. Something real, something tangible gets said in an Alyesha Wise poem. (Read one here: All the Boys).
Meet the collaborators: (from right to left) Hiram Sims, Nancy Lynee Woo, Danielle Mitchell, Alyesha Wise, Marcus Omari
The S.L.A.M. program has similar community agreements to those of Poetry Lab, focusing on creating a safe space, putting community first, and respecting privacy. They offer classes that challenge students to improve their skills in writing and performance. A wide variety of topics are covered inside S.L.A.M. from resume building to movement, poem structure to stage presence. The organization was founded with the help of LA-based book publisher Not A Cult and Art Share-LA. Since then, S.L.A.M. has ventured on its own, maintaining Art Share as a venue partner and holding workshops via Zoom during the pandemic. S.L.A.M. has served over 400 students and writers and currently boasts 42 alumni. They are an incredible asset to the LA poetry community, and we are extremely honored to partner with them for Workshops for the Working Class.
We love to collaborate!
Want to partner with us?
COMMUNITY LITERATURE INITIATIVE
Community Literature Initiative (CLI) started in 2013 after founder, Hiram Sims, published his book Photoetry, and was shocked to learn how many talented poets didn't have their work in print. His drive to help the poets in his community have their words appear in published poetry collections in bookstores led him to start the two-semester poetry publishing program.
From one class in 2013 to eight classes in 2021, over 150 students have completed his program. As a requirement to teach a course, all CLI teachers and TAs have completed the CLI course and either published their manuscripts or have a book on contract. Teachers and TAs are therefore able to provide their first-hand experience to help guide students through the process of creating, revising, curating, and completing their manuscript as well as complete the book production process including content and copy editing, book cover design, layout design, and pitching their manuscript to publishers.
Since its onset, more than 150 poets from Los Angeles and nationwide have completed their manuscripts with CLI and left the course with a printed copy of their book in their hand. CLI has also spawned two other entities under its umbrella: World Stage Press, a publishing house dedicated to publishing the work of BIPOC and individuals from underrepresented communities, and the Sims Library of Poetry, the actual brick and mortar headquarters with staff office space, indoor and outdoor community space, and more than 7,000 collections of poetry.
Looking forward to the future, CLI aims to add chapters across the nation, now having a virtual national class as well as an Austin-based class. They also hope to find a continuous funding source that would help them to provide much needed financial aid to lower income students.
SEE YOU IN PHILLY!
That’s it! That’s the lineup of collaborators, along with our Founding Director, Danielle Mitchell, who will hold space together in Philadelphia at this year’s AWP Conference. We hope you are now as excited as we are to open a dialogue on the achievements and challenges of creating alternative learning spaces. We hope this discussion is lively and real. Each of these leaders focus on practical tools for getting the work done. We are less concerned with being a source of inspiration (though that may be a side-effect!) and more interested in working to bring multiculturalism to the forefront while rejecting systems that uphold white supremacy and courses that limit access for marginalized folx and lower-income students. This is the work. As the poet laureate of Philadelphia Airea D. Matthews says, “Community means if you have knowledge, you share knowledge.” We couldn’t agree more!
Visit our collaborators:
Surprise the Line
S.L.A.M.
Community Literature Initiative
Meet the collaborators: (from right to left) Hiram Sims, Nancy Lynee Woo, Danielle Mitchell, Alyesha Wise, Marcus Omari
This article was published on March 18, 2022. Written by: