With support from the California Arts Council, the LA Poet Society will be able to sustain our 75 events year-round literary arts programming serving LA County. Funds support operational expenses including artist honoraria, staffing, program coordination, venue costs, outreach, marketing, and administrative infrastructure.
Our monthly programming includes weekly typewriter poetry activations in public spaces, multiple open mics across Los Angeles, and online, an inclusive writing circle for all levels, ongoing social media community-building support for creatives. It will also support our annual literary festivals and cultural celebrations such as Women’s Roar, Queer Writers Festival, LA Street Poetry Festival, Always Running Book Festival, and the organization’s annual anniversary celebration. These programs provide free opportunities for creative expression, community connection, and equitable access to the literary arts. Funding will ensure continued access to consistent, community-rooted arts programming.
Our core programming includes organizing and hosting a series of Los Angeles county literary events, currently hosted via online platforms, such as Zoom, and Instagram, and a few in person writing events and open mic offerings since post-pandemic. We offer an average of 75 events a year free to the public including: open mics, writing workshops, mediation practices, author interviews, BIPOC interviews, and more. We have a social justice, BIPOC focused, small press, Los Angeles Poet Society Press, and an online literary journal where we publish poetry, art, and literature. We hold 2-3 poetry contests a year. LAPS conducts poetry workshops within our community for all ages in English and Spanish. These workshops are curated for free to the public so that all people have access to the tools to express themselves and share their voices.