The Poets' Asylum has always counted on contributions from the audience and wider poetry community to help the Slam team take part in the events of the greater Slam community. In 2007 we began an effort to spread our fundraising efforts over the year so that we don't bore everyone to tears with our begging in May, June and July.
We are very pleased to have Cyndi Keeley working as the fund raising coordinator. Please contact her at fundraising @ poetsasylum.org if you have any questions, need fund raising sheets, want to donate to the art sale or auction, or have a great fund raising idea.
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The 2009 Worcester Slam Team take the show on the road in a
Slam Circus on Friday, July 17th at PACE - the Pioneer Art Center of
Easthampton. The team will put on a stellar performance for (hopefully) a
packed house. After the feature, audience members will have a chance to
compete with their own poems for prizes and poetic glory.
The performance will be held at the PACE Theatre, 41 Union Street, Easthampton, MA. $8 general admission. $7 for PACE members. Start time is 8:00 p.m. This is going to be a major fundraiser for the slam team and the Poets' Asylum. Please join us if you can.
Team member Dani Carriveau has crafted a lovely flyer. We'd appreciate your help in peppering the universe with copies of it. You can download the PDF by clicking here. You'll need Acrobat Reader to view the flyer. Thank you for your support!
We've ordered the 2009 Poets' Asylum t-shirts and should have them within a couple of weeks. Unisex sizes small through XXXL have been ordered. Shirts will sell for $15 and all proceeds will help fund the 2009 Worcester Slam Team.
You can reserve a shirt in your size by e-mailing webmaster @ poetsasylum.org with your shirt size.
Tax-deductible donation to the Poets' Asylum can be made through the generous support of the Worcester County Poetry Association. Please make your check out to the Worcester County Poetry Association and write "for the Poets' Asylum" in the memo field. You can hand your check over to Cythia Keeley or Bob Gill or you can mail it to the WCPA, 1 Ekman Street, Worcester, MA 01607.
The Worcester County
Poetry Association is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to
promote the writing arts. Founded in 1971 to provide a forum for local poets,
students, and others to celebrate the rich literary history of Central
Massachusetts, the WCPA sponsors readings, workshops, and other activities
involving both local and nationally known poets and writers.
2008 T-Shirt Sales
The 2008 Poets' Asylum T-shirt premiered at the Team Send-off Feature on July
31st. A limited selection of sizes are still available. You can purchase
on via our Merchandise page or from Bob Gill most
any Sunday night.
Thanks to Bill MacMillan for this years design. The image to the right appears on the front of the t-shirt. The back lists Worcester, MA and poetsasylum.org. A generous donor covered most of the cost of printing the 2008 t-shirts and we are grateful for their support.
06/15/2008 - Asylum Auction
Thanks to those who came out to support the 2008 Worcester Slam Team during our annual Asylum Auction. We raised a bit over $150 before we decided there just wasn't the right mood or mass of participants to continue the auction. A couple of generous friends of the Asylum pushed the total over $300 with cash donations. We really appreciate the support.
06/14/2008 - Asylum Yard Sale
The Asylum held our first ever yard sale this year the day before the annual auction. Our plan was to sell outright some of the treasure trove of donations to cut back the overall length of the auction. Around $125 was raised throughout the day.
04/05/2008 - 24 Hour Reading
Bill MacMillan undertook a 24-hour poetry feature starting Saturday, April 5th at 8:00 p.m. Bill read poetry, his own work and covers, over the following 24 hours, wrapping up as the weekly Asylum open reading gets underway on Sunday the 6th. The Q Cafe generously agreed to stay open all night long so that Bill could undertake this endeavour.
Thanks to the generousity of all involved we raised over $700 in support of the 2008 Worcester Slam Team at this event.
Bill took part in a coordinated national movement to have 24-hour readings across the country happening at the same time. Mad props and credit to Scott Woods for pioneering this national event.
12/02/2007 - Crafts Bizarre
On December 2, 2007 we ran a craft fair to benefit the Poets' Asylum. Area crafters were invited to rent a table, display their crafts and sell to their hearts content. The Asylum raised money through the rental of space allowing the crafters to keep their profits as their your own. The event was held at the Java Hut (1073A Main Street, Worcester) and rUn from 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
A half dozen crafters participated with varying results. We feel that bad weather kept many folks from coming out. The Asylum made $195 from the event and we thank all the participants for their support.
We may try this one again. If you are interested drop us a note and we'll discuss it with you.
December '07 - Art Sale
During the month of December '07 the Java Hut agreed to allow the Poets' Asylum to run a month long Art Sale. Instead of a single artists work appearing on the walls the Asylum collected donated art work from a variety of artists. Asylum regulars and Java Hut patrons were able to browse the collection at the Java Hut, purchase a piece of art and take it home with them.
The Java Hut closing threw a wrench into this plan. We did manage to sell a few pieces however, raising $215 for the Poets' Asylum. Our thanks to the artists who donated their work to our abbreiviated show.
Early 2007
In support of the 2007 Worcester Slam team the Poets' Asylum produced an anthology, held our first ever Art Sale & Silent Auction and held the annual Asylum Auction. All together we raised over $3500 to cover the expenses of sending the team to Nationals in Austin, TX. Additional info about our 2007 Fundraising efforts is available if you are interested.