Our Mission Statement
Through the recognition and promotion of poetry, creative and expository writing, poetrynight makes available the works of writers who might otherwise remain unknown and makes more accessible and applicable the culture of written and spoken language through exposure and education.
What We Do
For over fifteen years, in coffee shops and classrooms, basements and concert halls across Whatcom and Skagit counties, poetrynight has provided opportunities for new and established writers to share their work. As a program of the Whatcom Poetry Series, poetrynight is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. With the honor of having been selected for an unprecedented 2 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Awards, poetrynight continues to shape the literary landscape of our region.
Poetrynight began in 1995 as a weekly reading series and has developed into an organization providing a variety of programs, including:
• Poetry in Public Education (PIPE): Putting awkward and shy poets in front of classrooms of awkward and shy middle and high school students to teach, perform and inspire.
• The poetrynight Reading: What we are most known for is this, our nationally renowned event occurring every Monday night for 15 years. What Jack McCarthy described as “The best open mic on the West Coast.”
• Featured Poet Series: Sponsoring Touring Artists to perform in Whatcom and Skagit counties.
• poetrynight’s Podcast: Our weekly reading, free and online, with over one hundred (sometimes embarrassing, often wonderful) episodes available.
Donors, Partners & You
Thanks to the generous support of businesses, fellow arts organizations and our audience and members, we continue to build an active and sustainable community of writers and critics in Bellingham and around the Pacific Northwest.
