Our Place in the Arts

By Jody M Clark

Over thirty years ago when my family first moved to Traverse City, local artists were quietly supporting each other. There were a few local organizations, but you had to use a magnifying glass to find them. The Traverse City Arts Center was a busy, quiet place. The Crooked Tree Arts Center was new; the Traverse Area Arts Council and the Dennos Museum were barely dreams. Poetry was not splashed about except within classes and Horizon Books. Most of the best-published arts-education was centered at the community colleges (NCMC, NMC) or out at the music camp (IAA). Oh, you occasionally heard about a successful painter, performer, or writer, but they all seemed to value their privacy too much to stand out. The rest of them moaned about the lack of support, the competition from Downstate, Out East, Out West, even further UpNorth

Since then, I am happy to report that all across the region, support for local arts and artists has exploded. Artists are on the air, in the paper, and around every corner every day of the week. Working artists enhance classes at every level of education: preschool through college, public and private. Art and Craft shows and galleries abound. Art and craft shingles hang out on Front Street, the back streets, every highway and down the alleyways.

Now, we can claim a resident Newbery Award winner. Now, in the summertime, you can listen to storytellers and poets recite their original work or the beloved work of others; go inland, on your way to Eastport, to Stone Circle and, enjoy the Lake's breezes at the Leelanu School in Glen Arbor, with the Beach Bards. Year around, you can stop by your local library or the bookstores to meet and hear more artists present their work. These programs are well-advertised and, usually, free. In April, National Poetry Month is celebrated with programs at NMC and the Traverse Area District Library (TADL). Scattered throughout the rest of the year you might hear about an open mike night or a poetry slam.

Anne-Marie Oomen

Ten years ago, TADL won a grant to invite the community to discuss the poetry of four internationally recognized poets at the Traverse City Opera House. They were happily surprised by how many people joined scholar-educator Anne-Marie Oomen and scholar-librarian Sandy Robey to read and talk about serious poetry. Annie-Marie had helped found and publish the Dunes Review, a collection of local writings now published by the cooperative efforts of Michigan Writers Inc. and the Glen Arbor Art Council. Sandy had recently returned from studies of fourteenth-century poetry at Oxford. They formed an excellent team and the gallery room at the Opera House was full for all four of the programs.

A tiny group from these evenings began to discuss the success of the summer readings and open mike nights. Poetry in the Traverse City Area suddenly seemed to be everywhere; it was time to try to grow with it. Their idea was "to challenge local poets to a contest greater than an open mike reading, but less daunting than a completely professional contest." The organizers wanted the night to be special, so they reached for the moon and secured the main room of Opera House for the poets. They wanted it to be a grassroots project, so they tapped some of the best least-known volunteers in town. They wanted to reach the entire community, so they put posters up around town. Poems poured in from all ages and types of people!

At opening night, Anne-Marie helped each reader feel comfortable as the MC, the soundman made sure each voice was heard as well as the other and that first Poets' Night Out became a fine bit of local history. You can experience that first night and the other eight more Poets' Nights by borrowing the videos from TADL.

Poets' Night Out submissions were accepted until September 25th and acceptance letters should soon go out to the poets selected to participate. If history is any guide, they will share in a gentle competition between students, grandparents, farmers, lawyers and more. Poets' Night Out has grown so much that submissions are only limited to NW Michigan. Check out the exact limits and get other information from the web @ http://www.poetsnightout.org/.

Poets Reciting

Everyone is also invited to the Tenth Annual Poets' Night Out, when it returns to the newly remodeled Traverse City Opera House on Sunday, November 12^th at 7:00 p.m.

You can also make plans to enjoy TADL's beautiful library on Boardman Lake as you listen to some of the winning poetry from the past ten years. Don't forget to mark your new calendar for an enjoyable evening planned for the first Saturday in April 2007. There the Friends of TADL will also launch a Ten-Year Anthology of Poets' Night Out to begin celebrating their twenty-five years of support for your local library.

Jody M Clark is a local writer who creates the newsletter for your District Library, TADL TALES. In it, you will find information about upcoming library programs from Fife Lake to Old Mission Peninsula, from East Bay to Interlochen and five other points in between.