Arizona Commission on the Arts

#ArtLitPhx: Historias del taller escritura creativa en español PARTE 2

Superstition Review

Palabras

Ofelia Montelongo, a former student editor-in-chief from Superstition Review, will be hosting the closing event for the Creative Writing in Spanish Workshop at the Palabras Bilingual Bookstore (1738 E McDowell Rd, Phoenix, Arizona 85006).  The event will take place this Friday, December 1st from 7pm to 9pm.

The students of the workshop will be sharing the stories they wrote during the six-week course/workshop, thanks to the support of the Arizona Commission on the Arts. If you’re driving, remember that the library’s parking lot is behind the bookstore. For more information, check out the event’s Facebook page.

Susan Lang Book Release and Reading at Changing Hands First Draft

Superstition Review

unnamedPrescott College writing instructor and Arizona Commission on the Arts grant recipient Susan Lang presents her new thriller The Sawtooth Complex, available now from Changing Hands Bookstore.  On February 25 at 7 pm, Susan will be doing a reading at Changing Hands First Draft in Phoenix. 

The Sawtooth Complex is a fascinating novel that deals vigorously with the dilemmas of human life on the planet. Our willy-nilly destruction of the exquisite natural world is set against the efforts of some people to protect and care for the biology that sustains us. Most characters are torn by contradictions, both personal and political. A few are avid developers; others seek a balance between humanity and nature. Several touching love stories develop and falter among them. The true hero, Maddie Farley, is an inspiring and reluctant monkey-wrencher who lives most closely to the earth. The natural world she inhabits is invoked with poignant accuracy and love. Ultimately, nature itself blows up everyone’s world in a startling forest fire that overpowers the land and the people, laying waste to most everything. The writing about this thrilling climatic event is terrifying, spellbinding, very intense and powerful. And then a miracle occurs. In the wreckage left behind, the author, who is no sentimental idealist or doomsday prophet, finds reason to hope. The story is engrossing, entertaining, and really makes us think. It’s a fine addition to our best environmental and human–humane–literature

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan Lang is the author of a trilogy of novels about a woman homesteading in the southwestern wilderness during the years 1929 to 1941. The first novel in the trilogy, Small Rocks Rising, won the 2003 Willa Award, and she was awarded a 2008 Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts for her novel-in-progress, The Sawtooth Complex. Lang’s short stories and poems have been published in magazines such as Idaho Review, Red Rock Review, Iris, and The Raven Review. She founded and directed the Southwest Writers Series and Hassayampa Institute for Creative Writing at Yavapai College. Currently, Lang is Faculty Emeritus at Yavapai College, teaches courses at Prescott College, and serves as Event Coordinator at the Peregrine Book Company in Prescott, Arizona. Susan Lang was raised in a wild canyon much like the one referred to as Rattlesnake Canyon in a place homesteaded by her mother. As a young child she lived there first in a tent, then in a rugged cabin once her parents built it. Water was piped in from a spring on the mountain, and the family used a wood stove for cooking and candles and kerosine lamps for light until butane tanks were available to be hauled up the twelve mile rut road from Yucca Valley. A garden and rabbits were essential to the family’s survival. The love her mother had for the wild canyon was passed on to her children, especially her brother, and his wife and daughter who made protecting that wild canyon the focal point of their lives.

#ArtLitPhx: Myrlin Hepworth Eulogy in Blue Mixtape Release Party

Superstition Review

blueAttend Myrlin Hepworth’s Eulogy in Blue mixtape release party, also featuring Catharsis (Brad B. Optimal), Mic Maven, and DJ Panic, on Saturday, January 30th at 9 pm at Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix. Tickets are $7 pre-sale. Doors open at 7 pm. See more on our Facebook event page.

Myrlin is a poet,emcee, and teaching artist and has written and performed across the United States. In 2009, the Arizona Commission on the Arts selected him for its roster of Teaching Artists. In 2010, he became the first undergraduate teaching artist for the Young Writers Program at Arizona State University where he received his degree in English in 2011. In addition to visiting nearly thirty high schools each year, Hepworth makes a living with his art by performing at universities, youth centers, group homes, museums, and theaters. He has competed on three National Poetry Slam teams and co-founded and coached the Phoenix youth team to consecutive appearances at the Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam.  In 2011, Myrlin released his first collection of poems, From the Rooftops and in July of 2013 released his first hip hop mixtape entitled The Funky Autopsy.

Myrlin’s website

Arizona Commission on the Arts Launches Poet Laureate Nomination Process

Superstition Review

Arizona Commission on the Arts

PHOENIX (October 3, 2012). The Arizona Commission on the Arts, an agency of the State of Arizona, today launches the nomination process for the inaugural Arizona Poet Laureate.

At the start of the last legislative session, Arizona was one of only eight states without a poet laureate. The Arts Commission and the Arizona literary community worked in close partnership with State Senator Al Melvin during the Fiftieth Legislature’s second regular session, to put forth a bill establishing a poet laureate post for the State of Arizona. On May 11, 2012, Governor Jan Brewer signed SB1348 into law, and October marks the beginning of the nomination, review and selection process.

Jaime Dempsey, Deputy Director of the Arts Commission, said of the process, “It is our hope that the appointed Arizona Poet Laureate will champion the art of American poetry, inspire an emerging generation of literary artists, and educate Arizonans about poets and authors who have influenced our state through creative literary expression.”

The bill specifies that the appointed poet laureate will serve a term of two years; will offer public readings throughout the year, in both urban and rural communities in various regions of the state; and will pursue a major literary project over the course of the appointment term.

The Arizona Poet Laureate will be provided with an annual honorarium of $2,500 to offset travel and so that he/she is able to actively serve the broadest constituency of Arizonans, who live, learn and work in urban, rural and suburban areas of the state. The honorarium will be disbursed from the Arizona Poet Laureate Fund, which consists of private monies donated by individuals, organizations or businesses – raised by the Arts Commission and its statewide literary partners.

Interested parties may nominate themselves or others for the position of Arizona Poet Laureate through a process managed by the Arizona Commission on the Arts. The initial deadline for nominations is November 9, 2012. To review details and information regarding the nomination/application and selection process, visit http://www.azarts.gov/azpoetlaureate.

“We would like to recognize and thank Arizona Senator Al Melvin, who introduced the bill and shepherded it through the legislative process, and to our partners in arts advocacy, the Arizona Citizens for the Arts for helping to see this bill through to success,” said Bob Booker, Executive Director.

Read the bill here.

About the Arizona Commission on the Arts
One of 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies across the United States, the Arizona Commission on the Arts is an agency of the State of Arizona that supports a statewide arts network. The Arizona Commission on the Arts supports access to quality arts and arts education opportunities for all Arizona citizens; the development and retention of statewide jobs in the nonprofit arts, culture and education sectors; and increased economic impact in local communities through arts-based partnerships that develop tax and small business revenue.

For more information about the grants, services and programs of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, visit www.azarts.gov.

We imagine an Arizona where everyone can participate in and experience the arts.

Meet the Review Crew: Advertising Editor Christine Peters

Superstition Review
Each week we will be featuring one of our many talented interns here at Superstition Review.
Christine Peters, a senior at Arizona State University, is one of the Advertising Editors working here on Superstition Review. She is graduating this May with a degree in U.S. History and a minor in Global Studies. An Arizona native, Christine plans on leaving the beauty of the desert after graduation for the excitement of New York City.

Christine is an avid supporter of the arts. Although originally a dancer, Christine has since expanded to exploring and learning more about the different mediums through which human expression can take form. Her internship at the Arizona Commission on the Arts was paramount in educating her about the many utilities art can serve, and how it is truly invaluable for a strong, healthy society. Her current internships with the Musical Instrument Museum, Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation, and Superstition Review, likewise are teaching her about the many ways in which arts can be promoted and integrated into society.

Christine wants to pursue a career in which she can better advocate for the arts, whether it be at the grassroots level, through direct implementation of arts programs, or at the national level, through policy creation. Christine was initially brought to Superstition Review after seeing an ad for interns in her college’s e-newsletter. In an effort to learn as much about the different ways in which the arts are integrated into society, and having prior experience with artist outreach, Christine applied for a position with the literary magazine.

So far the internship has taught Christine about the most direct and popular ways to reach out to artists and the public. She will certainly carry the skills she is learning through the internship into her next position.

Christine has loved getting to know more about the different components of the literary world: writing, publishing, and marketing. Christine has enjoyed becoming familiar with the contributors of Superstition Review.

Congratulations Adriana Gallego

Superstition Review
Adriana Gallego. Photo courtesy of www.azarts.gov

Superstition Review would like to congratulate Adriana Gallego on her newest endeavor. Gallego will become the Deputy Director of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) after a four year tenure at the Arizona Commission of the Arts.

In her announcement Gallego remarked,

This new beginning will be a tremendous way to continue to build opportunities at a national level that connect people with meaningful resources that grow personal and organizational capacity, build community, foster collaboration and bridge cultural understanding…core beliefs that remain at the heart of my work. I am really looking forward to working together with the amazing NALAC team, leadership and broad constituency to advance a vibrant future for Latino arts and cultures.

Congratulations Adriana Gallego. We’re excited to see the wonderful impact you’ll make in this new position.

Governor’s Arts Awards

Superstition Review

Intern Veronica Martinez comments on Superstition Review‘s nomination for a Governor’s Arts Award.

On Tuesday April 14th the arts and cultural community will gather for the 2009 Governor’s Arts Awards. The Governor’s Arts Awards are presented annually by the Office of the Governor, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and Arizona Citizens for the Arts. This year we are excited that Superstition Review has been nominated in the Arts in Education Category; this category recognizes an Arizona individual or organization for an outstanding contribution to arts in education.

As a current intern with Superstition Review, I am very glad to be a part of such a project that not only provides a great opportunity to ASU students but also helps to engage and build the literary community in Arizona.

Amber Mosure, also a current intern, had this to mention about SR: “I really like all the hands-on experience I’m getting with my internship with Superstition Review. I feel very confident that I’m gaining very pertinent inside knowledge about what goes into putting together a literary publication and being involved in creating the final product is very rewarding and satisfying.”

So join us in congratulating Superstition Review on this nomination with special thanks to, Patricia Murphy, Managing Editor, for taking on this endeavor and together with ASU students producing a wonderful literary publication that we all can feel rewarded with. We will be rooting for SR!

For more information about the 2009 Governor’s Arts Awards click here.

Fast Times in Development and Funding

Superstition Review

Superstition Review intern, Amber Mosure, comments on her experiences in development and funding.

When I found out I was accepted as an intern for Superstition Review, I was assigned the role of development and funding. My main tasks involve: researching grants, looking into outreach programs, and figuring out innovative ways of generating funding. Already, I’ve gained an exponential amount of knowledge. I feel like the captain of a ship embarking on new landscapes. Applying my own fervor and the past experiences of other English classes has propelled me forward, a little uncertain and uncharted at first, but prepared. I’m sailing along and figuring it out as I go, exploring all the terrain and territories of possible projects and ideas (and I’ve realized I have a penchant for alliteration too).

Recently I helped write a panel proposal for the Southwest Arts Conference. This conference is presented by the Arizona Commission on the Arts and will take place August of this year. SWAC’s theme is “Safety/Sustainability/The Future Is No Accident.” In these times, it is imperative that we create reasonable ways to sustain the arts and literature. Superstition Review does a wonderful job with that, especially, because we are a paperless publication. We encourage and nurture a diverse mix of self-expression and, hopefully, the Arizona Commission on the Arts will agree and invite us to their conference to interactively facilitate a brainstorming session to bounce around ideas for sustainability that will benefit a multitude of art and literature organizations.

Next task: a panel proposal for The Association of Writers and Writing Programs. I will take some of the ideas from the SWAC proposal and apply them to Superstition Review’s application to this event, slated to take place April 2010 in Denver, Colorado. I’m from Denver, so I know that the mile high city is conducive to creativity. I am certain the ideas will be flowing full-force.