Meet our Grantee-Partner: Mass Poetry
Mass Poetry delivers free poetry programs to underserved audiences in libraries, community centers, museums, and schools.
Mass Poetry Festival, 2016. Photo by John Andrews.
Mission: Mass Poetry harnesses the power of words to engage diverse communities across our commonwealth. We envision a vibrant, inclusive community that lifts all voices.
In 2008, Mass Poetry co-founders Michael Ansara and Nicco Mele launched the inaugural Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts, to break down barriers to accessing poetry and showcase a diverse array of poets. The festival led to the development of poetry programs for students within schools with little to no arts instruction. Since then, Mass Poetry has continued expanding programming and delivering free programs to underserved audiences in libraries, community centers, museums, and schools.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, valuable local resources for teen spoken word programs had ceased operating. In fall 2022, a time of immense need and opportunity for public poetry, Mass Poetry received a Renewal and Recovery Grant from the Poetry Foundation. This funding allowed the organization to become an arts-partner-in-residence at GrubStreet’s Center for Creative Writing (CCW).
Having a physical location for the first time has enabled Mass Poetry to build a unique literary hub that values and responds to the many identities within its community of writers with poetry opportunities and events. CCW’s 13,000-square-foot literary arts center in Boston’s Seaport includes classrooms, recording and broadcast studios, a Porter Square Books store, and the Calderwood Writer’s Stage.
Mass Poetry Teen Council Members. Photo courtesy of Mass Poetry.
In 2023, Mass Poetry served more than 2,000 youth, aged 12-18—75% of whom identify as BIPOC or Latinx and economically disadvantaged—with free and low-cost poetry programs. The core programs currently include:
- Poet-in-Residence Program, in which Mass Poetry-certified poet-educators work with students in public schools.
- U35 Reading Series, a bi-monthly reading series for poets younger than 35.
- Massachusetts Poetry Festival, held biannually in Salem, hosting artists of all backgrounds and identities.
- Spoken Word at Mass Poetry (SW@MP), a teen spoken word program.
Poet Keith Jones at the Center for Creative Writing. Photo courtesy of Mass Poetry.
Receiving a spring 2023 Poetry Programs, Partnerships, and Innovation grant from the Poetry Foundation has helped Mass Poetry and Boston’s literary landscape recover from losses sustained during the pandemic. Mass Poetry has been able to increase the number of paid artists and poet-educators, guarantee venue rental and accessibility features, and supply teen council stipends so youth can participate in programs outside of school. Additionally, Mass Poetry was able to hire two renowned BIPOC spoken word poets to lead slam poetry programming: bilingual poet and lead spoken word instructor Anthony Febo, and director of programs, Crystal Valentine. Their artistic leadership and rapport with teen poets has been fundamental to SW@MP’s early success, and Mass Poetry was able to launch its statewide teen spoken word competition, Write Here |Write Now | Speak Loud!
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