New Poetry Center to Celebrate Opening

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New Poetry Center to Celebrate Opening

Exterior of UA Poetry Center

Housewarming festival taking place on Oct. 14.

By University Communications
October 12, 2007

To celebrate the opening of its new Helen S. Schaefer Building, The University of Arizona Poetry Center will host a public Housewarming Festival on Sunday, Oct. 14 from noon to 5 p.m. Many nationally renowned poets will give readings to show their support, including Billy Collins, Robert Hass, Brenda Hillman and Alberto Ríos.

Performers and musicians also scheduled to celebrate the opening festivities include Typing Explosion, Flam Chen acrobats, Odaiko Sonora taiko drummers, Native American flautist R. Carlos Nakai, Flamenco dance and guitar performers Luna Llena, local folk-rock performer Al Perry, Brazilian jazz ensemble Makako and numerous poets.

The all-ages festival features several activities geared toward children, including Tucson Madonnari chalk artists, a children’s theater with Stories that Soar and face paints and crafts with the UA Museum of Art. Food and snacks also will be available.

Founded in 1960, the UA Poetry Center features one of the largest collections of contemporary poetry in the country, with more than 60,000 items, including books, journals, photographs and recordings. For the first time since the late 1970s, the entire collection will be housed in one location and will be fully accessible to the public. Designed by Line and Space, LLC, the Helen S. Schaefer Building includes a rare book room, archives, event and meeting spaces and academic support facilities.

“This will be the only landmark building on a University campus dedicated to celebrating and advancing poetry,” said Gail Browne, executive director of the UA Poetry Center. “Forty-seven years after its founding, the Poetry Center will finally have a building that’s worthy of its international reputation.”

Poetry Center programs and outreach activities include a reading series, which has featured more than 1,000 writers since being launched in 1962.

Other offerings include literary education programs and curricula for preschool through high school students, creative writing workshops for adults, residencies for visiting writers and academic support programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

The Poetry Center is located at 1508 E. Helen Street (at Vine Avenue). Free parking will be available for the Housewarming Festival at UA Zone One lots and in the Highland parking garage.