New Mexico Arts announces the state finals for Poetry Out Loud®. Presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. On Sunday, March 3, nine high school students from high schools across New México will participate in the Poetry Out Loud state finals at St. Francis Auditorium, inside the New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave, Santa Fe. Special guest performance by EmiArte Flamenco Youth de Santa Fe.
Poetry Out Loud starts in the classroom/school or at the local level with an area organization. Winners then may advance to a regional and/or state competition, and ultimately to the national finals. At the New México finals, competitors will recite works they memorized from an anthology of more than 1,200 classic and contemporary poems. The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation provide free, standards-based curriculum materials—all available online—which teachers may choose to use in their classrooms. Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.3 million students and 76,000 teachers from 19,000 schools across the country have participated in Poetry Out Loud.
“We are looking forward to celebrating New Mexico’s 19thannual Poetry Out Loud state finals in Santa Fe with student competitors representing schools from across New Mexico–from Las Cruces to Montezuma, and Albuquerque to Carlsbad. This program, available to any high school in New Mexico, is an excellent example of how public funding for the arts provides access to arts and culture activities in communities both big and small everywhere in our great state.” – Michelle Laflamme-Childs, Executive Director.
The following high school students will be representing their school at the Poetry Out Loud New Mexico Final: Sama Lilo, Albuquerque School of Excellence; Ulani Radtke, Arrowhead Park Early College High School; Nakia Thomas, Carlsbad High School; Noor Kaur, Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School; Ariana Thiel-Hadjilambrinos, LA Cueva High School; Jasper Goldberg, Public Academy for the Performing Arts; Kaitlyn Lubega, UWC-USA; Seth McLaughlin, V. Sue Cleveland High School; and Dante Salim, Volcano Vista High School.
The winner of the Poetry Out Loud New Mexico finals will receive $200, and the winner’s representing school or organization will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry materials. The first runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for their representing school or organization to purchase poetry materials.
The New Mexico champion will advance to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in Washington, DC this May. All 55 state and jurisdictional champions will compete in the national semifinals on Wednesday, May 1, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, with the top nine students advancing to the finals on Thursday, May 2, from 7:00 to 9:15 p.m. ET. Both days are free and open to the public and will be available through a one-time-only webcast at arts.gov. In total, $50,000 in awards and school/organization stipends, including a$20,000 award for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion, will be presented at the National Finals. The Poetry Foundation provides and administers all aspects of the monetary prizes awarded and travel arrangements to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals.
