LISTEN-Jack Straw Productions

Featuring current and past Jack Straw participating artists, sound art events, our community partners, and artist announcements.

"A Night of Cheap Wine and Poetry"
Readings from John Burgess, Eben Eldridge, Stacey Levine, Mary Purdy, and Shira Richman.
Thursday, January 11th, 7PM
Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., Seattle (Capitol Hill)
Open Mic, Wine: $1/glass, FREE admission
www.cheapwineandpoetry.com

John Burgess grew up in upstate New York, worked on a survey crew in Montana, taught English in Japan and now lives and works in Seattle. He's a 2006 Jack Straw writer and co-founder of Washington Poets Association's Burning Word festival. His first book is Punk Poems from Ravenna Press (2005).

Eben Eldridge is a poet, musician, and painter, who has lived in Seattle for ten odd, disturbing years. He's been a singer and songwriter for the bands Hungarian Music Lesson, Tractor Sex Fatality, and Pluto Boy, and his solo CDs include "You Thought You Knew Me" and "Now You Know." He's a 1998 Jack Straw Writer. For more Eben Eldridge: www.allthingseben.com.

Stacey Levine is a Seattle-based author whose novel Frances Johnson, a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, was published last year by Clear Cut Press. Her books My Horse and Other Stories and Dra-, a novel, were published by Sun & Moon Press. She has written for Fence, Bookforum, The Stranger, and far more frightening venues. She also wrote a libretto for a puppet opera about the Quileute tribes of Washington State. Formerly a creative writing instructor, Stacey is now at work on other books.

Mary Purdy is a recent transplant from NYC where she was a regular on the comedy scene. Her solo show "Purdy Woman" was produced at several Off- Broadway venues in NYC as well as featured in the Piccolo Spoleto Fest in Charleston, SC, the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle and Chicago's Funny Women Fest. Her 2nd solo piece "Judy Blume Owes Me" was produced in LA, NYC and Seattle, as well as featured in a variety of comedy festivals. Mary has been a regular comedy contributor to NPR's "The Next Big Thing" for the past 3 years.

Shira Richman is delighted to have poems published in Crab Creek Review, Promethean, Snow Monkey, and Real Change. She is the 2006 winner of the Richard Hugo House New Works Competition. These days she finds herself in Spokane, where she is working on her MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University, and trying to locate her inner prairie.

Artist Trust's GAP (Grants for Artist Projects)
Applications Available!
Postmark Deadline: February 23, 2007

Individual artists who reside in Washington State are encouraged to apply to the 2007 GAP (Grants for Artist Projects) Program. Artist Trust's GAP Program provides support for individual artist projects by awarding up to $1,500 for projects including (but not limited to) the development, completion or presentation of new work. Last year 690 artists applied to the GAP Program and 52 artists were funded from around the State.

The GAP Program is open to artists working in ALL creative disciplines including visual, performing, literary, media and emerging & cross-disciplinary arts. Applicants must be residents of Washington State but cannot be a graduate or undergraduate student enrolled in a degree program.

GAP Applications and Guidelines are available on the Artist Trust website (as a new fill-in-able .pdf!) at www.artisttrust.org or by sending a self-addressed, stamped, business-sized envelope to: GAP Application, Artist Trust, 1835 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122-2437.

Artist Trust GAP Grant Workshops
Multiple Dates and Locations for Workshops.
Go to the Artist Trust Website for specific locations and details.

Vancouver, WA: Friday, January 5, 2007 ~ 6- 8pm
Seattle: Sunday, January 7, 2007 ~ 5- 7pm
Pratt Fine Arts Center, 1902 South Main St.
Seattle: Thursday, January 18, 2007 ~ 6- 8pm
Tashiro Kaplan Community Room, 104 Prefontaine
(Pre-registration required for Seattle dates; contact Heather at Artist Trust)
Bellingham: Tuesday, January 16 ~ 2- 4pm
Olympia: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 ~ 7- 9pm
Ellensburg: Saturday, January 20, 2007 ~ 2- 4pm
Bremerton: Monday, January 22, 2007 ~ 6:30- 8:30pm
Spokane: Thursday, January 25, 2007 ~ 6-8pm
Bellevue: Friday, February 2, 2007 ~ 6-8pm

Heather Joy Helbach-Olds, Artist Trust's Director of Programs, will be on hand to present information and provide tips on preparing a strong grant application. Designed for artists working in all disciplines, the workshop will feature a discussion of work sample "Do's and Don'ts," how to get informed about the array of grant possibilities available to Washington State artists and much more. Artist Trust is a not-for-profit organization whose sole mission is to support and encourage individual artists working in all disciplines in order to enrich community life throughout Washington State. Find out more at www.artisttrust.org .

WRITERS IN THE SCHOOLS Student Reading
Saturday, January 27, 2 pm
Elliott Bay Books, Seattle

Please join Writers in the Schools (WITS), a dedicated wing of Seattle Arts & Lectures, for a special program featuring students and teachers from twenty-one public schools in Seattle, Renton, and Tukwila share poetry and prose created in the fall semester under the tutelage of WITS writers-in-residence. This past fall, Jack Straw partnered with WITS to bring an audio component to the classroom project led by teaching artist Judith Roche at Aki Kurose Middle School in Seattle. For more information about WITS, please see http://www.lectures.org.

To submit your announcement, please send your listing at least 2 weeks in advance, a one paragraph description, and a link to the event website.

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