WordSpring, Concert, Writing

Open mic went off fantastically. I'm hoping to get the performance videos up soon. Since April is National Poetry Month there were more poets reading. Almost half the performers on the sign up were poets.
The day after I had a nice chat with one of the other poets and let her know I'm organizing some poetry only shows for the summer. I'm waiting for approval on the proposed dates and then I'll have fliers prepared. This year should be easier since I've had one more year of experience and I'm more recognized in the art community now. With reputation and networking I'm hoping to create a poetry scene in the community. There's people who write, but keep it to themselves. I want them to come out and share their art.

Saturday I attended the concert at Bluseed. It was a fantastic evening. The show was great, and I stayed pretty late after the concert. Natalia Zuckerman is an awesome guitarist. I love her slide playing. Andy Friedman had some hilarious songs, and I learned he started out as a poet before he did music.

Tomorrow evening there will be a more professional show at North Country Community College. The Adirondack Center for Writing has invited poets Liza Jessie Peterson, Jon Sands, and Jeanann Verlee to perform. I'm really looking forward to the show. I'm still growing and learning as an artist so I like to see more experienced artists. It helps me see what I can do to define my art. Especially since growing up I never saw anything like this. If there were writers' retreats for students and professional poets reading up here when I was in high school I may have started my career earlier instead of the on/off writing I did. Better now than never, and hopefully my efforts will contribute to creating a literary art scene in my community. We have a huge visual art and music scene. There's concerts all the time. In the summer we have the monthly art walks. We even have a First Night celebration.
Theater does well here too, we have a LPCA (Lake Placid Center for the Arts) and Pendragon Theatre
I'm glad there's more professional artists of all forms of expression coming to the region. Hopefully I'll see many more. A great ending to National Poetry Month.