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October 23, 2009
Hi folks!
I'm a performance poet and I work with Big Tree Arts, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that supports the art of performance poetry in Boise. We have just wrapped up an amazing year of poetry performances and projects. This year we doubled our services and made performance poetry accessible to youth with our new monthly Slam of Steel poetry event and free workshop, we brought performance poetry into many local schools through poet outreach sessions, our Poetry Slam Delux event has reached a level of success we'd only dreamed about, and our local poets have achieved notoriety and respect at the National level.
Of course, now that all of that awesomeness has happened, it's time to look forward again and this is why I'm writing to you. Last year we began our all-ages poetry slam and free all-ages workshop in order to lay the foundation for our youth outreach services, known as "the Loud Writers' Project." Now, this year we are going to bring six session writing workshops to the most at-risk youth in Boise at two locations: Hays Shelter for homeless children and the Frank Church alternative high school.
This summer I have had a paper published in the Arts in Psychotherapy journal based on my dissertation on the resolution of internal conflict through performing poetry (exciting! it's a real journal!). As I updated my research for publication, I found fantastic protocols for writing interventions that have been shown to be as effective for treating the symptoms of trauma as the gold standard, cognitive behavioral therapy. The Loud Writers' workshops will be incorporating these protocols as well as more standard writing exercises, in an effort both to give at-risk teens the tools to express themselves now and in the future and to follow best practices for actually reducing trauma symptoms and effects.
So here is where I ask you for support. You probably know that folks only pay $5 to get into our slams. Grant monies for the arts have been strongly curtailed this year. We can do so much good here with very little, but we really do need to raise money to make this work happen. The Loud Writers' Project will need $12,800 for an entire year of services (that's a monthly performance event, monthly free drop-in workshops, monthly outreach to regular schools, and three sites of six-workshop writing interventions with at-risk youth). We will probably be able to receive $2000 in grant money and will raise about $1800 over the course of the year at the slam, leaving us with $9000 to raise from actual people.
Dear actual people! I know that some of you may not be in a position to donate anything at this time. But for those of you who are able to donate, please consider supporting the Loud Writers' Project. A donation of $25 is half of a free drop-in writing workshop for youth. A donation of $1000 is as much income as we receive from 200 event attendees. We really do so much with so little. Also, for those of you who like to support our slam team, this year's team has pledged to earn their way to Nationals by staffing this program so you are helping them too.
Thank you for your support and goodwill!
Sincerely,
Cheryl Maddalena
President, Big Tree Arts
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