City’s Cultural Council Releases Application for New Bedford Poet Laureate

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Today, the New Bedford Cultural Council, at the request of Mayor Mitchell, made available an application for the position of New Bedford Poet Laureate, a three-year appointment to commence on May 1, 2014.  It has been several years since New Bedford has had an active Poet Laureate.  The last two poets to receive the honor were John Landry, named in 2007 and Everett Hoagland, who served from 1994 to 1998.

This is first time the City has undertaken an application for the position under the auspices of the New Bedford Cultural Council. A five-member sub-committee of the body will oversee the application and selection process, and make a final recommendation to the Mayor in late April. The new Poet Laureate will be announced at a public event hosted by the Writers’ Block, in celebration of National Poetry Month on April 28, 2014 at Renaissance Academy. Applications are due on April 10, 2014.

The Poet Laureate’s duties will include raising public awareness of poetry throughout the community, engaging New Bedford Public Schools to enhance the teaching of poetry in the classroom, and creating poems for specific occasions as requested by the Mayor.  There is no financial remuneration associated with the designation.

“Frankly, I think we’re overdue in naming a New Bedford Poet Laureate,” said Mayor Mitchell. “As a City that values the arts and understands the power of art to transform lives and uplift communities, it is vital that we celebrate and elevate it in all forms including poetry.  I’m looking forward to the naming and to working with the new Poet Laureate and to raise poetry’s prominence in the public sphere in New Bedford.”

New Bedford Poet Laureate applications are available for download on the City of New Bedford’s website www.newbedford-ma.gov, and in hard copy at all public library branches, and in the Mayor’s Office at City Hall, 133 William St. New Bedford.

For more information contact the Poet Laureate Committee at newbedfordcc@gmail.com

About Michael Silvia

Served 20 years in the United States Air Force. Owner of New Bedford Guide.

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