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Calling All Poets and New City Residents

Arts and Entertainment

March 1, 2024

From: Easthampton City Arts+

Attention Local Poets & Poetry Appreciators!!
We've got two announcements to share:

1) Easthampton Poet Laureate Carolyn Cushing is looking for local poets to participate in the "Voices of Easthampton" event she is organizing for Easthampton Poetry Month, set to take place in the afternoon of Saturday April 13th at CitySpace’s Blue Room. This is a wonderful opportunity for poets who live, work, or have been active in Easthampton. Should you wish to be considered, please fill out this simple interest form -- and please feel free to share! The deadline to apply is March 15th.

2) Taking place TONIGHT February 27th at 6pm -- Easthampton Poet Laureate Carolyn Cushing will be at the Easthampton Public Library to present: "Poetry & Practice", where Carolyn will read poems written on walks around Easthampton observing the natural world and changing climate. She will also talk about her inspirations and creative practice. This presentation will inaugurate a series of walks for those who wish to try this practice as a prompt for their own writing. "Walking & Writing" Sessions with Carolyn Cushing will take place on the next three Saturdays: March 2, 9, and 23, at 8:30am. Meet outside the library to begin walk, then reconvene inside the library at 9:30am

Attention New City Residents!!

Easthampton City Arts, the City Planning Department, and the Department of Public Works invite you all to join us for a hands-on clay-building workshop this Saturday March 2nd from 1-3pm as part of the arts-component of the Emerald Place Resiliency Project. This workshop is free and fun-for-all ages and will be taking place at Easthampton Clay in Eastworks. 

We will be telling stories about your experiences in the neighborhood, sharing ideas for environmental improvements, and making tiles that reflect what we learn and illustrate what we'd like to see. The session is also a chance to discuss locations and ideas for public art in the neighborhood. This is a family-friendly event and children are welcome and encouraged to participate in the clay project and storytelling.

We also encourage participants to bring any photos and other mementos from New City to Saturday's session... are there personal pictures of the bridge, home life, community events, etc, that you wish to share? Do people have any antiques, artifacts, or other personal objects that can help tell the story of what New City means to you? We'd love to see them and hear the stories behind them, too!

Local artists and workshop-leaders Michael Medeiros and Kiran Jandu were selected by Easthampton City Arts (ECA), the ECA Public Art Committee, the Easthampton Planning Department, and the Department of Public Works to design a climate change themed, community-based artwork that will be installed during the construction phase of the Emerald Place Resiliency Project. Now in the first stage of design planning, the artists hope to hear from as many residents of New City as possible as they draft a project proposal that reflects the needs and interests of people living in the neighborhood.

Easthampton Clay is located in Suite 241 in Eastworks, at 116 Pleasant Street in Easthampton. For more information, contact Michael Medeiros at [email protected].

Many thanks,
The Emerald Place Resiliency Project Planning Team:
Pasqualina Azzarello, Arts & Culture Program Director
Jamie Webb, Senior Planner
Diane Rossini, Staff Enginee