The Poet in Place program engaged community in literary arts

This new program creates creative opportunities for a selected poet to encourage engagement with poetry writing in the community

The Poet in Place program is a new inclusive initiative that aims to engage the city's community with poetry and the literary arts.  

The program spotlights a chosen poet or spoken word artist who has a term of two years and receives a total honorarium of $20,000, or $10,000 each year. The selected poet's responsibilities include performing original works at public events, delivering poetry workshops in collaboration with the Hamilton Public Library and developing creative placemaking projects. 

Brianne Gascho is the cultural project specialist for the city of Hamilton. Her role consists of supporting arts and culture in the community. For this particular program, she is in charge of developing and managing the project as the lead. 

Gascho explained the program was originally directed by the city council. They had pushed for a poet laureate program to do more for the literary arts in the city and Gascho and her team were tasked with assembling the project. After community consultations and research, they decided to create a program different from a traditional poet laureate program, as they wanted to remain accessible and to stay rooted in creative placemaking. 

Gascho highlighted some key differences between a poet laureate program and Hamilton’s Poet in Place program. One key difference is that laureate programs are rooted in certain conceptions of merit and achievement, making them inaccessible to many artists, especially unpublished ones. Hamilton’s Poet in Place program does not require applicants to be published. Another key difference is that Hamilton accepts Poet in Place applications from spoken word artists, rather than only accepting applications from page poets. These features, Gascho explained, make the program unique to Hamilton. 

“What really makes this program different is the amount of placemaking-based project work. . . which is using specific places and spaces in our city to implement projects. So we're going to create opportunities for engagement that are very specific to Hamilton [using poetry],” said Gascho.   

The process for choosing the poet begins when the city receives applications from poets, according to Gascho. Application materials include a project proposal, artist bio, community engagement statement and poetic works in the form of writing or video. City staff then check each poet’s eligibility requirements before sending their applications to a jury.  

The jury consists of poets, spoken word artists and people with placemaking and project expertise, though the specific members of the jury are not revealed until after the poet has been chosen. The jury reviews applications and reaches a consensus decision for the poet before announcing it in the new year. The process is entirely community-led. 

Reception for the program has been both positive and negative. Gascho said that some negative reception is to be expected with the social issues the city currently faces, with people concerned about the monetary cost of the program and whether it is at the expense of funding other initiatives.  

On the other hand, there has been a lot of positive support from the city council, the mayor and the broader arts community. This has highlighted a positive outcome of the project, which is that citizens and people not normally engaged with the arts have been given the opportunity to explore that side of Hamilton more. 

Gascho also pointed out that the program is relevant to students as a way to venture beyond the academic setting on campus and explore more of what the city has to offer.  

“It's an opportunity for students to engage with practicing artists and arts professionals. . . it provides opportunities for students to actually connect with these [poetic] projects. . . and be able to see the literary arts and more broadly, the creative arts activated in our community,” said Gascho.  

Gascho encourages students to attend workshops or performances held by the poet in the future. If they have any questions or would like further information about the program, they can connect with her or other members involved in arts and culture. Her information is located here. She hopes that students will enjoy what the program has to offer and feel involved in the community.