Griot Collective receives Tennessee Arts Commission grant
PRESS RELEASE FROM GRIOT COLLECTIVE:
GRIOT COLLECTIVE RECEIVES TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION GRANT
The Griot Collective of West Tennessee has been awarded an Arts Build Community (ABC) Grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Jackson Arts Council. The grant will allow the Collective to partner with the Lane College English Department to celebrate National Poetry Month on April 4th, 2025. The celebration will consist of a morning poetry workshop for area college students led by poet Major Jackson. Later that day, Jackson will give a reading of his work. Both events will take place on the campus of Lane College.
“Since its inception, the Griot Collective has attracted the best of American poets to the City of Jackson. Major Jackson’s imminent visit is a continuation of this,” said James E Cherry, advisor to the Griot Collective. “We remain committed to being a vital part of the arts and culture of Jackson and west Tennessee and thank the Tennessee Arts Commission, Jackson Arts Council and Lane College for their support and enthusiasm about the celebration.”
Major Jackson is the author of six books of poetry, including Razzle Dazzle: New and Selected Poems (2023), The Absurd Man (2020), Roll Deep (2015), Holding Company (2010), Hoops (2006) and Leaving Saturn (2002), which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems. Jackson lives in Nashville, where he is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves as the Poetry Editor of The Harvard Review.
“The Lane College English Department,” said Assistant Professor of English Richard Boada, “is pleased to once again partner with the Griot Collective to celebrate National Poetry Month. We’re excited that Lane College will serve as the venue on April 4th, 2025 for the award-winning poet, editor and professor Major Jackson. We’re glad that we can be the workshop space for young writers from Lane College, Jackson State Community College, Lambuth University and Union University to experience discussions on craft, the writing process, and receive feedback from one of America’s foremost poets.”
The grant award is $2100.
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