Easthampton Poet Laureate Program

Activating + Integrating Poetry and Public Spaces

AN INVITATION

Easthampton City Arts (ECA) invites you to express your interest in becoming the City of Easthampton’s next Poet Laureate (2025-2027). As many of you know from firsthand experience, the City of Easthampton has a long, rich history of utilizing the platform of poetry and literary happenings to activate and engage community. We encourage you to take a look through this Easthampton Poet Laureate Interest Form — it should take only 10-15 minutes to fill out — and we encourage you to share with the poets you’re connected with, too.

History & Overview

The Easthampton Poet Laureate Program was founded by Easthampton City Arts (ECA) in 2018 in an effort to highlight and elevate the rich and vital community of poets and culture of poetry in the City of Easthampton and throughout the Connecticut River Valley. In 2019, the Easthampton Poet Laureate program transitioned from a 1-year term to a 2-year term.

In the past, the Easthampton Poet Laureate was selected by a review committee comprised of individuals closely affiliated with literary programming in Easthampton. This year, a review committee (TBA) will select the next Easthampton Poet Laureate partially based on the inquiries we receive through the Interest Form.

Timeline

 February 1

  • Announce the Easthampton Poet Laureate nomination process

 February 22 @ 11:59pm

 Early April 2021

  • Easthampton Poet Laureate (2021-2023) announced

Terms & Deliverables

The upcoming Easthampton Poet Laureate program will run from April 2025 – April 2027. This ensures that the current and incoming Easthampton Poet Laureate will overlap in April, which is officially Poetry Month in the City of Easthampton.

While it is not a requirement that the Easthampton Poet Laureate lives or works in the City of Easthampton, their poetry must have a presence and/or history in Easthampton.

Poet Laureate Deliverables:

  • Year ONE – Presentation of one’s own work
  • Year ONE – Second public sharing (can be an event, workshop, presentation, etc)
  • Year TWO – Presentation of one’s own work
  • Year TWO – Second public sharing (can be an event, workshop, presentation, etc)
  • Requested but not required: Serve on the 2027-2029 Review Committee and introduce the Incoming Poet Laureate 
  • *Note: the Easthampton Poet Laureate is welcomed and encouraged to participate in additional ECA events and programs throughout the duration of their term and would be compensated appropriately, in addition to their Poet Laureate agreement, deliverables, and honorarium.

The Easthampton Poet Laureate will be supported by the ECA Arts & Culture Program Director and ECA as a whole to bring their Easthampton Poet Laureate programming to life.

A $1,000 honorarium is provided. It will be issued in two $500 payments, upon the completion of the second public sharing each year.

Artist Agreements

The selected individual must comply with program guidelines. As with all ECA & City programs, the individual can submit invoices once they have fulfilled the requirements of their agreement. Please note that a W9 is required for payment to be issued and checks can be expected to arrive approximately four weeks after paperwork has been processed.

Contact

Please direct all inquiries regarding the Easthampton Poet Laureate program to Pasqualina Azzarello, Arts & Culture Program Director: pazzarello@easthamptonma.gov. *Please note that inquiries must be received by the end of day February 19th to ensure a timely response ahead of the deadline.