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Arts Commission News

Poetry Out Loud State Finals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 20, 2006

JACKSON— The Mississippi Arts Commission has announced the state finals for Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest.  The Competition, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance and competition.  On Friday, March 31 at 1:00 pm, students from across the state will participate in the Poetry Out Loud state finals at New Stage Theatre in Jackson.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the mastery of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic competition to high schools across the country.  The winner of the statewide competition will advance to the National Finals in Washington, D.C.  More than 250,000 students across the country are expected to take part in Poetry Out Loud this year.

At the finals, contestants will recite works selected from an anthology of more than 400 classic and contemporary poems.  The NEA and the Poetry Foundation created a standards-based teacher’s guide, a comprehensive website, and a CD featuring poetry recitations by well-known actors and writers such as Anthony Hopkins, Alyssa Milano, James Earl Jones, and Rita Dove.

“This competition represents the type of learning opportunities for students the Mississippi Arts Commission wants to encourage and support,” said Malcolm White, Executive Director of the Mississippi Arts Commission. “Especially now, when there is a documented rate of decline in literary reading among young readers.

The winner of the Poetry Out Loud Mississippi finals will receive $200, and the winner’s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books.  One runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library.  The State Champion of the Poetry Out Loud Mississippi final will receive an all expenses-paid trip (with a chaperone) to compete in the National Finals in Washington, D.C. on May 16, 2006.  The National Finals will award a total of $50,000 in scholarships and school stipends, with a $20,000 college scholarship for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion.

The Poetry Out Loud Mississippi finals will take place on Friday, March 31 at 1:00 pm at New Stage Theatre in Jackson.  The keynote speaker for the event will be Ann Fisher-Wirth.  Ms. Fisher-Wirth received a Literary Artist Fellowship for poetry in 1998 and again in 2005 from the Mississippi Arts Commission.  She has a PhD in English and American Literature from Claremont Graduate School. Ms. Fisher-Wirth is a Fulbright Scholar and currently serves as a professor for the University of Mississippi. 

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, bringing arts to all Americans and providing leadership in arts education.  Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest national funding organization of the arts.

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture.  One of the largest literary organizations in the world, it exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency, funded by the Mississippi legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Wallace Foundation and other private sources.  MAC is the official grants making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi. The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

The event is free and open to the public.   For more information contact Diane Williams at 601/359-6529 or dwilliams@arts.state.ms.us.

 

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