Arts Activities Support

100% of our artists reported a desire to work with Motionpoems again. All of our three institutional partners reported a desire to work with Motionpoems again. Two of our five poets have either taken up film classes of their own or initiated another film project after engaging with this project. All but three of our artists came to the premiere at IFP Minnesota (those three were out of town). All artistic goals were met. We hired E. G. Bailey as our Guest Producer, solicited poems from the local spoken word community with help from several activists in that community, recruited filmmakers, negotiated contracts with all artists, completed all films on time, screened them all publicly at the Walker Art Center and IFP Minnesota, paid all artists, and evaluated our programming as planned. We are always re-tooling our production model, changing up our partnerships, exploring new ways of working. This project was a first for Motionpoems in that we haven’t yet turned our attentions on the spoken word poetry community, and we were grateful for the opportunity to do that. Motionpoems is a national organization, drawing poets and filmmakers from around the world, and this project allowed us to focus some attention on our local community of artists and serve artists here. We found the community receptive and enthusiastic. Poet Kevin Yang loved his project, mainly for the way film reimagined his poem; he’s talking about getting into filmmaking classes at Saint Paul Neighborhood Network now. Poet Louis Alemayehu liked his film despite early trepidation. Poet Blythe Baird liked how Valerie took her film to the Women’s March, a film that broadly interpreted her poem; she initiated another film project on her own after engaging with us. Poet Dessa Wander was thrilled with her film, a highly stylized Coen-esque reimagining that took audiences by surprise. Filmmakers reported favorably as well. One liked “how much creative freedom I had. I also enjoyed talking to the poet a lot about her work and what we planned on doing. Also, in creating the piece, how intense it was working with only women in front of the camera! It had a different energy or vibe.” Another: “Being able to explore and being able to just step out of my narrative filmmaking style truly allowed this project to challenge me... which I really like and enjoyed. The experience was definitely worth it and the diverse cast of poets and filmmakers was incredible!”All artists reported in surveys that their completed film would help them in their careers. “It’s a great showcase of my film archiving work and reinterpretation of history,” wrote one. Two said they would submit their film to film festivals. Said another: “It allows me to have a more diverse video work to show to my clients or recruiters looking to hire me for my work, as Motion Poem truly allowed us to experiment and have full control of production.” Yet another: “I will use it on grants, promotional material, and as an inspiration to create more work/collaborate across mediums.” We successfully reached our intended community. We had no particular audience demographics in mind, fully aware that the spoken word community is extremely diverse, but we did stress the importance of diversity in the selection of our filmmakers, which in the end skewed female and minority. Open calls for poets insured that everyone connected to the Loft’s spoken word community or the local slam teams knew about the opportunity. Our partnerships with Button Poetry, The Loft Literary Center and IFP Minnesota assured broad notification and awareness. Attendance at our events is always free and publicity was supported by The Walker, Button, The Loft, and IFP Minnesota. Since one spoken word film was completed early (October), we included it in our annual Motionpoems premiere at the Walker which was produced in partnership with Cave Canem, “a home for black poetry” in Brooklyn, New York. This emphasis inspired a more diverse crowd than is typical for Motionpoems, and we’re proud of that.