Poetic People Power: About Us

About Poetic People Power

Poetic People Power was founded by writer Tara Bracco in 2003 to create an ongoing project that combines poetry and activism. Each year, a diverse group of poets are commissioned to write new works about a political or social issue. The new poems are then presented to a public audience in a professional spoken word show. Poetic People Power entertains and informs. It raises awareness on specific topics and engages audiences through the expressive art of poetry.

Previous shows include Women's Words About War (Bluestockings Bookstore, 2003); Voices on Voting and Democracy (Ars Nova Theater, 2004); Coming Clean: Poems for the Earth (Bowery Poetry Club, 2005); Raise the Wage (Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 2006); Sick & Tired: A Call for Universal Care (Bowery Poetry Club, 2007); Activism: The American Way (Bowery Poetry Club, 2008); Tapped Out: Words About The Water Crisis (Bowery Poetry Club, 2009); Price Check: How We Became A Culture Of Consumption (The Producers Club, 2010); and The Revolution Will Be... (Nuyorican Poets Cafe, 2011). To date, this project has produced 9 shows, worked with over 20 poets, and commissioned 60 new poems on social and political issues.

Funders

Poetic People Power is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Additional funding has been made possible by the Puffin Foundation.

Poetic People Power has also received generous donations from its individual donors: Roseanne and Denis Bracco, Susan Bernfield, Ragon Duffy, Joe Gonzalez, Leeat Granek, Anietra Guzman, Mahima Joishy, Becky Katzman, Steven Leff, Erica Lies, Olympia Stone, and Bonnie Tellez.

Donate Now

Poetic People Power is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Poetic People Power must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. (To donate by check, please e-mail Tara Bracco for more information.)

To donate online, please click here:

MANY THANKS!

We are thankful to the following people who have generously offered guidance, their time, and their expertise to help make this project an ongoing success: Sarah Grace Anders, Ben Arredondo, Kimmi Auerbach, Bluestockings, Roseanne Bracco, Jan Buskar, Joe Cairo, Ximena Castillo, Sally Clark, Pete Davis, Jill DiMartino Photography, Ragon Duffy, Jason Eagan at Ars Nova, Nadine Ezra, Ashley Faison, Jennifer & Christopher Gandin Le, Joe Gonzalez, Chris Grace, Suzanne Grossman, Andrea Hance, Bob Holman & Matt Lydon at Bowery Poetry Club, Jennifer Jones, Jim Joseph, Becky Katzman, Kristen Kemp, Sid King, Russell Lerner, Brooke Linville, Frank Lopez, Liz Maestri, Alane Marco, Keri Meoni, Darren Molovinsky, Jessica Morton, Melissa F. Moschitto, Michelle Ngo, Toks Olagundoye, Florence Poulain, Susanna Rasmussen, Kelly Roberts, Kristine Schlachter, Shetal Shah, Rashmi Sharma, Nicole Shore, Fran Tarr, The Producers Club staff, Jacquette Timmons, Joe Trentacosta, Jason Tseng, Jennifer van der Meer, Mollie Van Gordan, Jonathan Walton, Marc Weisman, Angela Williams and Woodhull Institute. Most of all we thank the awesome poets who have brought their rage and creativity to our stage!