For Immediate Release – November 16, 2016
Contact: Amy Crittenden, Recreation Manager
Phone: 310-456-2489 ext. 337
Email: acrittenden@malibucity.org
City Council to Create Malibu Poet Laureate
(Malibu, CA) - At the City Council meeting on Monday, November 14, 2016, the Council approved a recommendation to create Malibu’s first Poet Laureate.
The proposal was brought to the Cultural Arts Commission by Malibu resident Ann Buxie, who coordinates the long-standing regular community poetry and storytelling event “Tales by the Sea.” The proposal was first reviewed in September by the Cultural Arts Commission, which fully supported the idea and recommended the program to the City Council.
"The Poet Laureate will provide a unique and inspiring voice for Malibu," said Mayor Lou La Monte. "I applaud the Cultural Arts Commission for this initiative, which offers an exciting way to add to our vibrant arts community."
"Poetry searches the soul,” Ann Buxie said. “In times of struggle and suffering, poetry offers a distinct perspective on local and universal happenings."
“I am pleased to offer my support for the Poet Laureate program in the City of Malibu," former California Poet Laureate candidate Carol Muske-Dukes stated. "We turn to poetry to express the inexpressible at those memorable occasions in our lives when we look for words to embody what the heart longs to say, what the mind hungers to illuminate."
The Cultural Arts Commission intends the introduction of the Poet Laureate Program in Malibu to forever keep poetry as an integral piece of the community’s artistic landscape. While the importance of poetry in literature needs no explanation, it is often the art form that receives the least support in community arts programming.
The Malibu Poet Laureate will be open to any poet who resides in, or is affiliated with Malibu. The Poet Laureate candidate will be selected by a panel under the guidance of Dr. John Struleoff, Chair of the Creative Writing Department at Pepperdine University. Dr. Struleoff is an Esteemed Writing Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and Wallace Stegner Program at Stanford University.
Submissions will be accepted November 30, 2016 through January 11, 2017. Submissions can be made in person at Malibu City Hall, by mail or online. The Call for Submissions with application instructions will be posted on the City’s website on Monday, November 28.
Cultural Arts Commission Vice Chair Catherine Malcom Brickman and Ann Buxie are available for interviews.
For information on the Poet Laureate, contact Amy Crittenden, Recreation Manager at (310) 456-2489 ext. 337 or email acrittenden@malibucity.org.
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