Board Meeting Schedule change
At our January 4, 2021 meeting the WCPA the board voted to move our future meetings to the second Tuesday of each month. This move will provide more time to complete financial reports.
The WPCA board meeting monthly from September through June, taking a break from official meetings in July and August each year. If you want to join us for a future board meeting the dates through June 2021 include February 10, March 10, April 14, May 12, and June 9.
COVID-19 Relief Fund for Individuals
Today Mass Cultural Council launched a second round of its COVID-19 Relief Fund for Individuals. Grants of $1,500 are available to Massachusetts individual artists and independent teaching artists/humanists/scientists who have lost income derived from their work as a direct result of COVID-19 related cancellations and closures.
Apply by 11:59pm February 2, 2021!
2021 Annual Poetry Contest Submission are open!
Submissions for the WCPA’s Annual Poetry Contest: The Frank O’Hara Prize are now open. For 2021 our contest judge is Pam Bernard, an adjunct professor of writing at Franklin Pierce University.
Contest rules and submission details can be found on the 2021 Annual Contest Submission Guidelines page. New for 2021 – the submission deadline will end on Friday, April 30, 2021. It seemed to make sense to extend submissions through National Poetry Month.
2021 Stanley Kunitz Medal Nominations

Michael True (left) and Carle Johnson at the 2017 Kunitz Medal presentation.
Zoom into Poetry with D. Keali’i MacKenzie on January 10th
January 10th we continue our monthly virtual poetry feature series with Zoom into Poetry with D. Keali’i MacKenzie. Born in western Massachusetts, he is a past member of the Worcester Poetry Slam Team which represented the Poets’ Asylum at the National Poetry Slam.
Join us at 3:00 pm (Eastern) on Sunday, January 10, 2021. Registration is needed to join the event. Visit the Zoom registration link and fill in the form. A meeting link will be e-mailed to you.
WPL poetry writing workshops
2020 Stanley Kunitz Medal recipient, Susan Roney-O’Brien, is leading two more Poetry Writing 101 workshops with Worcester Public Library.
Sign-up for this Saturday’s class, Poetry Writing 101 with Susan Roney-O’Brien: Sound, Resound. It’s taking place on January 2, 2021. Or you can sign up for Poetry Writing 101 with Susan Roney-O’Brien: In Form, Conform, Reform on Saturday, February 6, 2021. Registration links can be found in the event listings linked above.
Both workshops take place between 11 a.m. and noon.
Tonight – a virtual Thirsty Lab with Joe Fusco Jr.
Tonight, Tuesday, December 29, 2020, poet and humorist Joe Fusco Jr has the honor of being the final feature of 2020 for the Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading series. You can find the registration link in our event listing – A virtual Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading with Joe Fusco Jr.
You can read a sample of his work in Worcester Magazine.
2020 Clemente update
Elizabeth Bacon, WCPA board member and Coordinator for Clemente Worcester, shared this update with Clemente Worcester supporters as the end of 2020 approaches.
Dear Clemente Worcester Supporters,

Graduation 2020 gifts
We HOPE this finds you well during these last, dark days of this difficult, still unfolding year.
2020 Worcester Clemente Graduation Program
We wanted to let you know that we paused our in-person program in March. With the ardent support of Mass Humanities, we provided all our 2020 students with Chromebooks and Hot Spots to finish on-line in October. All 20 students graduated, and faculty and staff delivered graduation gifts to each person’s home in mid-October. I have attached photos, a copy of this year’s graduation program, this year’s Graduation Speech, and a Welcome from Worcester County Poetry Association President Rodger Martin. All will bring you JOY and HOPE.
This summer, Professor Lucia Knoles taught an online course for alumni on Op-Ed Writing funded through a Mellon Foundation Grant in partnership with Mass Humanities and four other Clemente sites across the state. The result was a beautiful publication called, We, too, Are America. 2020 Worcester graduate Mallory Shelly’s writing was featured in the Clemente National newsletter on December 8th. Please explore her work and that of others through the link below. Our graduates bring us HOPE:
https://www.blog.clementecourse.org/post/for-mallory-shelly-everything-offers-a-chance-to-learn

Lorenza Villatoro
Starting in February, Clemente Worcester faculty will offer a three-credit, on-line course to Clemente Worcester graduates and newly accepted students to the Class of 2021-22, and Clemente students from across the state will be invited to join a new writing class led by Mass Humanities and funded by the Mellon Foundation.
By September, we HOPE to be back in person at The Worcester Art Museum and Trinity Lutheran Church – resuming the life-giving connection to scholarship and community that has become Clemente Worcester’s hallmark. YOU are an important part of that Community, and we HOPE to see you back with us then.
Until then, THANK YOU for joining us in making this amazing opportunity possible for so many and for bringing HOPE in this time of isolation and challenge.
In solidarity – on behalf of all of us,
Elizabeth
PS: If you would like to make a gift this year, please go to:
#508Fridays – Main IDEA
