Jessica Cardenas, CalPoets' Area Coordinator in LA reports:
LA has received a grant from the Eastside Arts Initiative to bring 3 narrative poetry workshops to the Southeast Los Angeles communities. This will begin in spring, six workshops per site and one teacher per site.
We’re also engaged in partnership with the Pacoima Urban Village, a non profit that works to empower and better the lives of our community members by offering support and a bridge to social services. We/I am engaged with them offering open mics and reading programs to the community.
Juan Cardenas’ book The Beat of an Immigrant Chicano is being taught at the LA unified school district, particularly Panorama High School for ninth and 10th graders. He will be visiting these classes virtually over the next few days. This is a chance for the students to interact with him after reading his book. We are all very excited about this.
We welcome Josh Evans to the LA Cal Poets team! We are excited to ramp him up.
Rosie Alonso and Jessica help run the small press Los Angeles Poet Society Press and are working on Volume 2 of a literary journal called Acid Verse Literary Journal.
Jessica and Juan will be featured on KROJ giving a poetry feature on air and an interview.