The Poetry Foundation works to raise poetry to a more visible and influential position in our culture. Rather than celebrating the status quo, the Foundation seeks to influence the art form for the better by shaping a receptive climate for poetry, developing new audiences, delivering poetry through new venues, and encouraging the writing of criticism and new kinds of poetry. The Foundation believes that new audiences will bring fresh intellectual and spiritual energy to the art form. In the long term, the Foundation aspires to alter the perception that poetry is a marginal art by making it directly relevant to the American public.

The Foundation will pursue its mission through seven principal areas of endeavor: Poetry magazine, a poetry institute, online initiatives, poetry and youth, poetry in the media, awards and recognitions, and the creation of a national home for poetry.

Poetry Magazine

The Foundation supports Poetry magazine, the pre-eminent magazine of its kind in the English-speaking world, in bringing the highest quality poetry to the largest possible audience in the United States and abroad. Circulation and distribution continue to expand by upholding Poetry’s legacy of discovering the very best poets and critics of our time.

Poetry in America

Poetry in America is a study that evaluates American attitudes toward poetry. Commissioned from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago by the Poetry Foundation, the research finds that the vast majority (90 percent) of American readers highly value poetry and believe it enriches the lives of those who read it. The research is based on interviews with a random sample of 1,000 American adults who read newspapers, magazines, and books for pleasure, and who read primarily in English. The data gathered provides information on who reads poetry, why they turn to it, where they encounter it, and what types of it they hear and read. The report, which is available free of charge, is intended to assist educators, publishers, and arts organizations interested in building the audience for poetry.

Online Initiative

Findings from the major research project—Poetry in America—reinforce the Foundation’s commitment to building a leading website for poetry. The study found that the Internet is an underutilized channel for achieving the Foundation’s mission to place the best poetry before the largest possible audience. The goal of the online initiative is therefore twofold: to use the Internet to reach and engage a broad audience in poetry, and to support the Foundation’s other initiatives and programs.

A Home for Poetry in Chicago

The Foundation actively supports Chicago—the home of Poetry magazine for nearly a century—as a major center for poetry in the cultural life of the United States. A new and permanent home for the Foundation will formalize its national leadership role and establish a destination venue for audiences for symposia and performance events, as well as for visitors to Chicago who want a more physical engagement with the art form. As an energetic civic participant, the Foundation offers and supports programs that develop new audiences and serve unmet needs within the cultural community.

Poetry Institute

As part of its intellectual and critical role, the Foundation is establishing a poetry institute. Using dedicated staff, the Institute brings together leading thinkers and practitioners—scholars, poets, translators, publishers and thinkers from outside the poetry world—to address issues of importance to the art form, basing its work on extensive preparation and systematic follow-through on findings and recommendations

Poetry and Youth

Findings from the major research project—Poetry in America—demonstrate that a love for poetry in adulthood is more likely if cultivated early in life and reinforced thereafter. The Foundation offers a variety of programs that develop new audiences among children and young adults

Poetry in the Media

Over time and through experimentation, the Foundation aims to achieve an enhanced presence for poetry in each of the major traditional media channels: print (newspapers, general and special interest magazines), radio, television, film, out-of-home; and new media technologies and venues as they evolve. Through active relationships with editors in print and electronic media, the Foundation works to see poetry published, cited, presented, and discussed in new and innovative ways, opportunistically and thematically.

Awards and Recognitions

In addition to the Lilly Prize and Fellowships, the Poetry Foundation will expand the Pegasus Awards, its family of prizes intended to celebrate under-recognized poets and types of poetry. Taken as a whole, the Foundation’s awards program serves its mission to discover and celebrate what is best in poetry and to promote it before the largest possible audience. The awards also directly support and encourage poets. Individual Pegasus Awards will be named annually or from time to time, as appropriate to maintain the prestige and quality of the prizes.