Poetry Out Loud State Finals @ Div. of Arts and Museums (SLC: March 14)

For immediate release
3 March 2011
2011 Poetry Out Loud finals
Students compete to represent Utah at national poetry competition

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Division of Arts & Museums announces the state finals for Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest. The state finals will be held on Monday, March 14, 2011 at the Black Box Theatre in the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. The winner will go to Washington D.C. to represent Utah in the national finals and compete for a chance at a $20,000 scholarship.

Students from nearly twenty high schools participated in the Poetry Out Loud curriculum, held contests at the classroom level, advanced to a school-wide competition, and now will participate in state finals. At the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, contestants will recite works they selected from an anthology of nearly 600 classic and contemporary poems.

Currently, students from these schools will be competing in the Poetry Out Loud state finals:

Rowland Hall (Salt Lake City)
Olympus (Salt Lake City)
East (Salt Lake City)
Judge Memorial (Salt Lake City)
Granger (West Valley City)
Bountiful
Grantsville
Lone Peak (Highland)
Box Elder (Brigham City)
Provo
Orem
Lehi
Karl Maeser (Lindon)
Payson
Layton
Valley (South Jordan)
Monticello
Merit Academy (Springville)

“Students participating in Poetry Out Loud connect with literature in a unique way and build confidence in public speaking,” said Margaret Hunt, Director of the Utah Division of Arts & Museums. “The annual state recitation featuring the school finalists is among our favorite events, and for the past several years the state champion has also been featured at the Mountain West Arts Conference/Governor’s Leadership in the Arts Awards."

The Utah Division of Arts & Museums’ Poetry Out Loud, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers across the nation by capitalizing on trends in poetry-recitation and performance. The program builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form by inviting the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, the spoken word, and theatre in the English classroom. Through Poetry Out Loud, students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage.

“Arts education is essential to raising America’s next generation of creative thinkers,” said NEA chairman Rocco Landesman. “The NEA is proud to provide leadership in arts education through high-quality national education programs like Poetry Out Loud.”

The Poetry Out Loud Utah state finals event is free and open to the public. For more information visit the Division of Arts & Museums website at www.artsandmuseums.utah.gov or contact Wendi Hassan at whassan@utah.gov, 801.860.6396.


About the Utah Division of Arts & Museums
The Utah Division of Arts & Museums is a division of the Utah Department of Community and Culture with a goal to promote innovation in and the growth of Utah’s arts and culture community. The Division provides funding, education, and technical services to individuals and organizations statewide so that all Utahns, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or economic status, can access, understand, and receive the benefits of arts and culture. Additional information on the programs and services can be found at www.artsandmuseums.utah.gov or by calling 801.236.7555.

About Poetry Out Loud
The National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and state arts agencies work together to bring Poetry Out Loud to high schools across the United States. After successful pilot programs in Washington, DC, and Chicago, the second phase of Poetry Out Loud was launched nationwide in the spring of 2006 with tens of thousands of students participating. In 2009 nearly 325,000 students participated. More information about Poetry Out Loud can be found at www.poetryoutloud.org.