When Athens resident C.J. Kearns started coordinating Designated Space, spoken word poetry readings at Donkey Coffee and Espresso, almost six years ago, he wanted to help local poets gain exposure. In 2004, he founded JKPublishing to publish local writers.
Now, Kearns has taken his dedication to writers a step further by co-founding the Word Arts Foundation.
The Word Arts Foundation, a nonprofit organization, helps writers and spoken word performers in Southeast Ohio by providing grants so they can enter competitions, participate in showcasing events and host workshops, Kearns said. He came up with the idea early last fall.
Our big push is to get sponsors so that (Word Arts Foundation) will have money for writers
Kearns said, adding that it will help them get their work exposed and move into the literary world.
To kick off its fundraising, Word Arts Foundation is hosting Dancing Words, a Written and Spoken Word Festival. Starting tonight and going through Sunday, the festival will feature 25 to 30 performers. A few will read short stories or do stand-up comedy, but most readers will be poets.
Jon Sands, whose poetry team came in third place at the 2007 National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas, will give aheadlining performance Saturday. Sands will also host a writing workshop on Sunday at Donkey.
While the festival will bring in national poets such as Sands, several of the performers have participated in Designated Space, the poetry readings hosted by Donkey on Tuesday nights.
Zac Fulton, the manager at Athens' Pyramids Hookah Bar and treasurer for Word Arts Foundation, will be performing Saturday. Fulton, who is 19, has been participating at Designated Space's poetry nights since he was a senior in high school.
He said he remembers hearing stories about when only about five people would participate in Designated Space.
Now every (Tuesday) night the back room (of Donkey) is packed Fulton said, adding that about 25 readers, with an addition of least three or four newcomers, perform for each reading.
Emily Dunlap, a sophomore women's studies and sociology major, has been coming to Designated Space since Winter Quarter last year.
I love coming G? even when I don't have anything to read
she said.
Dunlap will be reading her poetry at the festival. As president of Women Acting for Change, a lot of her work is focused on gender.
We have a good melding of performers that grew up in Athens
Kearns said, adding that the style of life in Athens gives its artists a unique voice.
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Max Gref of Logan reads some of his work during the Designated Space poetry open mic night at Donkey at 9 p.m. Tuesday. Gref will be in this weekend's poetry festival with other Athens' locals; Jon Sands will headline the event.
