2024-615-E-Arts Commission-Liza Wolff-Francis-EcoHopeful Poetry

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Artist Experience I am the 8th Poet Laureate of Carrboro, North Carolina and I have an M.F.A. in Creative W riting from Goddard College. I was co-director for the 2014 Austin International Poetry Festival and am currently on the Carrboro Poets Council. I have taught writing workshops for over a decade. My essay “Exploring Ecopoetry: Changing Definitions” was published by Valparaiso University. My writing has been widely anthologized and my work has most recently appeared in The Phare, Silver Birch Press, W ild Roof Journal, and eMerge magazine. I have written poetry book reviews that have been published on Adroit, Compulsive Reader, and LitPub. I have a chapbook out called “Language of Crossing” and a book coming out in late summer 2024 called “48 hours down the shore” through Kelsay Press. I also work as a Spanish speaking clinical social worker and started a non- profit in 2015 called Casa Fortaleza for Spanish speaking survivors of sexual violence in Albuquerque, NM that continues today. I previously provided therapy there and facilitated writing groups for sexual assault survivors as a support for emotional-mental health in the face of trauma. I have facilitated many workshops for youth and have recently provided workshops for students at Chapel Hill High School, Carolina Friends School, for Engineering students at Elon University, and elsewhere. For the Orange County Arts grant I was awarded last year, I worked with Chapel Hill Poet Laureate Cortland Gilliam to facilitate a two-hour poetry workshop for 12 students from Carrboro High School, Chapel Hill High School, and Cedar Ridge High School. The students wrote poetry inspired by Nerys Levy’s paintings of the Arctic and Antarctic. In our workshop about the climate crisis, students used poetry and ekphrastic poetry to confront it and Levy spoke about her art and the Arctic and Antarctic. The youth read their poems to an audience. The reading and show were open to all community members and the gallery was a space where people could reflect in a meaningful way on the Arctic, Antarctic, art, and the climate crisis through visual art and poetry. It was a successful project and a lot of fun. How do you plan to market your project? I will reach out to teacher contacts in the high schools to assure fifteen to twenty students sign up for the workshop and reading. I will assure event announcements are posted on social media and community and town calendars. A handbill flier will also be made and posted around Orange County and on social media. Participating students will be asked to invite their friends, peers, and families to hear them read and be part of the discussion on the climate crisis. PROJECT/PROGRAM BUDGET Please fill out the charts below with your project's expenses and income. Use the "Explanation" box to offer details for each category. NOTE: The Total Cash Expense must equal the Total Cash Income. View an example budget here. Budgeted Expense Expenses-english-rev ised.xlsx Budgeted Income Docusign Envelope ID: 9AFB14FC-4173-463B-85A6-C5C5356764BD