New York, NY (January 19, 2023)—The Academy of American Poets announced today that it will award capacity-building grants to fifty-three independent nonprofit literary organizations that present poetry or serve poets in their programming, in 2023 and 2024. The recipients will each receive two-year grants of $2,500–$25,000 per year, or $5,000–$50,000 total, to support capacity-building initiatives.
“Literary organizations embolden American culture in profound and inspiring ways across small towns and big cities alike, and yet they remain one of the most under-funded areas in the nonprofit sector. With thanks to the Hawthornden Foundation, we are able to strengthen literary organizations that do so much for poets, writers, and readers everywhere,” said Tess O’Dwyer, Board Chair of the Academy of American Poets.
Through its Capacity-Building Grant Program, the Academy will help support grantees’ projects that aim to create a sustainable and effective organization in areas such as fundraising, marketing, and web development; skill-building for staff and board members; strategic and succession planning; diversity and equity initiatives; and leadership development and management training. A grant from the Hawthornden Foundation, originally founded in 1983 by the late Drue Heinz, makes this program possible.
Grants were recommended by an independent panel consisting of Kazim Ali, M.L. Smoker, and Crystal Wilkinson. Final award decisions were approved by a committee of the Academy of American Poets Board of Directors.
The fifty-three recipients of capacity-building grants from the Academy are:
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center
California Poets in the Schools
Community Building Art Works (CBAW)
Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown
Indigenous Nations Poets (In-Na-Po)
James Merrill House Foundation
Loveland Poet Laureate Program
Teachers & Writers Collaborative
Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival
The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)
The Arts Branch of the YMCA of Central New York
The Community of Literary Magazines & Presses will also be awarding capacity-building grants to forty-three literary publishers across the U.S. as part of a similar grant program. To learn more about CLMP’s grantees, visit: https://www.clmp.org/press-center/the-community-of-literary-magazines-presses-to-award-capacity-building-grants-to-forty-three-literary-publishers-across-the-u-s/
About the Academy of American Poets
Founded in 1934, the Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states and beyond. The organization annually awards $1.3+ million to more than two hundred poets at various stages of their careers through its prize and fellowship programs. The organization also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; established and organizes National Poetry Month each April; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides free resources to K–12 educators, including the award-winning weekly Teach This Poem series; hosts an annual series of poetry readings, and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition that promotes the value poets bring to our culture. To learn more about the Academy of American Poets, including its staff, its Board of Directors, and its Board of Chancellors, visit: https://poets.org/.