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Poetry Project
The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church was founded in 1966 at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in the East Village of Manhattan. It has been a prominent venue for new and experimental poetry for more than five decades.
Among the Poetry Project’s initiatives are regular events featuring poets, writers, musicians, dramatists, dancers and performance artists; writing workshops; its annual New Year’s Day Marathon; and several publications, including the quarterly Poetry Project Newsletter. The organization has hosted memorial readings for, among others, Allen Ginsberg, W.H. Auden, Frank O'Hara, Paul Blackburn, Ted Berrigan, Bernadette Mayer, and Cookie Mueller.
In the early to mid 1960s, a flourishing poetry scene developed in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, anchored by poets including Paul Blackburn, Carol Bergé and Jerome Rothenberg, and centered on readings at cafés including Les Deux Mégots and Le Metro. When Le Metro closed in 1965, Blackburn, Bergé, Rothenberg, Diane Wakoski and others established a “Poetry Committee” to find a permanent home for their developing artistic community. The Poetry Committee turned to St. Mark’s church to host their poetry events.
In May 1966, the Reverend Michael Allen, the rector of St Mark's, accepted a federal grant of almost $200,000 from the Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development. The Poetry Project was established using this money, building on the poetry events that Blackburn and the Poetry Committee had organized at the church in early 1966.
The grant was administered jointly by Michael Allen and Harry Silverstein at the New School, and was technically to be used for 'creative arts for alienated youth' and the socialisation of juvenile delinquents. Joel Oppenheimer was appointed as the first director of the Poetry Project, a role he held until 1968, when Anne Waldman took over.
Waldman organized the first New Year’s Day Marathon in 1974, with readers including Patti Smith and Ed Sanders. The Marathon, an annual tradition, sees more than a hundred performers and a thousand attendees celebrate the New Year through readings and avant-garde performances.
Directors and staff at the Poetry Project have included Bernadette Mayer, Bob Holman, Diya Vij, Ron Padgett, Eileen Myles, Patricia Spears Jones, Jessica Hagedorn, Ed Friedman, Gillian McCain, Anselm Berrigan, Stacy Szymaszek, Simone White, Laura Henriksen, Kyle Dacuyan, Kay Gabriel, and the current Director, Nicole Wallace.
The Poetry Project was a key community hub for the so-called 'second generation' of the New York School of poets.
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Poetry Project
The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church was founded in 1966 at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in the East Village of Manhattan. It has been a prominent venue for new and experimental poetry for more than five decades.
Among the Poetry Project’s initiatives are regular events featuring poets, writers, musicians, dramatists, dancers and performance artists; writing workshops; its annual New Year’s Day Marathon; and several publications, including the quarterly Poetry Project Newsletter. The organization has hosted memorial readings for, among others, Allen Ginsberg, W.H. Auden, Frank O'Hara, Paul Blackburn, Ted Berrigan, Bernadette Mayer, and Cookie Mueller.
In the early to mid 1960s, a flourishing poetry scene developed in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, anchored by poets including Paul Blackburn, Carol Bergé and Jerome Rothenberg, and centered on readings at cafés including Les Deux Mégots and Le Metro. When Le Metro closed in 1965, Blackburn, Bergé, Rothenberg, Diane Wakoski and others established a “Poetry Committee” to find a permanent home for their developing artistic community. The Poetry Committee turned to St. Mark’s church to host their poetry events.
In May 1966, the Reverend Michael Allen, the rector of St Mark's, accepted a federal grant of almost $200,000 from the Office of Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Development. The Poetry Project was established using this money, building on the poetry events that Blackburn and the Poetry Committee had organized at the church in early 1966.
The grant was administered jointly by Michael Allen and Harry Silverstein at the New School, and was technically to be used for 'creative arts for alienated youth' and the socialisation of juvenile delinquents. Joel Oppenheimer was appointed as the first director of the Poetry Project, a role he held until 1968, when Anne Waldman took over.
Waldman organized the first New Year’s Day Marathon in 1974, with readers including Patti Smith and Ed Sanders. The Marathon, an annual tradition, sees more than a hundred performers and a thousand attendees celebrate the New Year through readings and avant-garde performances.
Directors and staff at the Poetry Project have included Bernadette Mayer, Bob Holman, Diya Vij, Ron Padgett, Eileen Myles, Patricia Spears Jones, Jessica Hagedorn, Ed Friedman, Gillian McCain, Anselm Berrigan, Stacy Szymaszek, Simone White, Laura Henriksen, Kyle Dacuyan, Kay Gabriel, and the current Director, Nicole Wallace.
The Poetry Project was a key community hub for the so-called 'second generation' of the New York School of poets.