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All In Adams - Celebrate National Poetry Month
26 Plays2 days ago
In this episode, Zoe Ocampo of the Cultural Arts Team joins the podcast. Learn more about upcoming events celebrating national poetry month and projects the team is working on.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to All In Adams, the official podcast of Adams County Government. where we're all in for our residents, our employees, and our community. So whether you live here, work here, or you just want to know more about what makes Adams County a great place to be, thanks for tuning in. We're all in, Adams.
Meet Zoe Ocampo and Cultural Arts Overview
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of the All in Adams podcast. My name is Carson Forsman. I'm a communications supervisor with Adams County, and we are excited to have Zoe Ocampo back in studio.
00:00:33
Speaker
She's a cultural arts manager. ah with the cultural arts team. That's the Parks, Open Space, and Cultural Arts Department, a big department. They do a lot of work, and it is a busy time for you all. Zoe, great to have you in. Thank you. I'm so glad to be here.
National Poetry Month and Poet Laureate Program
00:00:48
Speaker
So April, it's already April and it's National Poetry Month. It's an exciting month for you and the team. It's also an exciting month too, because we have a new Adams County Poet Laureate.
00:00:59
Speaker
Kind of talk to me a little bit about this month and what that that means for for our new Poet Laureate and just for your team in general. What's going on? Yeah. So National Poetry Month was started in 1996 by the association the American Association of Poets. And it's really about celebrating what poets bring to our culture and society as a whole. And it's also a way to really encourage people to engage with poetry, learn about something they don't know, figure out how to write and you know their own works. and And so it's really just a ah way in-depth explore the literary arts in this way. So
00:01:33
Speaker
It's a perfect alignment with and with our Poet Laureate program, which is in its second iteration. It's a two-year residency, and it's a partnership with Anythink Libraries. And so we are in full swing with our new Poet Laureate, Eric Francis. And ah we did a big call for entry. We had a competitive process and had some really wonderful applicants. And Eric just really rose to the top. They are an incredible poet.
00:02:00
Speaker
um a wonderful community gatherer. i just, just have an incredible presence and they've really been able to start to create a new era of the poet laureate program, really building on, um you know, the shoulders of giants with the incredible work that Carrie joy did in the first, the first round of residency.
00:02:18
Speaker
She really set
Poetry Community and Events
00:02:19
Speaker
the bar, didn't she? She did. she did. And actually they they've worked together. you know, the poetry community is is pretty tightly knit. And so we, you know, we knew Carrie Joy knew Eric's work and they performed um also at Carrie Joy's last event. And yeah, so now they're just, they're killing it. Eric is has really, um really taken it on. Yeah. And then ah last month in March, you had, i believe, a couple events, right? You had the welcome reception as well as another. Actually, I'm i'm mixing up the events. That was a different event for a different project that maybe we can talk about. dust to apples But talk to me about that welcome reception with Eric. How did that go with the community? I know you had a good turnout here at the government center.
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was wonderful. You know, we brought Eric on, the award was given in the summer, but we actually took the opportunity to really plan the entire residency out. So there was a lot of work done to really create the the strong foundation for the residency. And so we launched with a welcome reception at the beginning of the year, and it was a wonderful turnout.
00:03:19
Speaker
um We had about 50 people who you know were just in community, part of the the residency last time, that are really engaged. We have really built an incredible community of local poets, um youth poets, people really of all different ages, all different backgrounds.
00:03:36
Speaker
And so we kicked off with the welcome reception, and then we shortly followed up with the first open mic. That's what it was. The open mic. Thank you. That looked, uh, and, uh, our videographer, Matt Bell did a nice video with that. And you can find that, um, on our YouTube channel and social media, but that was fun to watch and the different poets. And, um, I believe there was someone there, the color, the Colorado poet laureate. yeah That's pretty cool. Yeah. Uh, Christoso. And I think honestly, that event just completely warmed my heart. It was at mano sagrados, which is a local, small local venue in Aurora.
00:04:09
Speaker
And we had, An amazing turnout. And so many people got up on stage and performed. Actually, the Colorado Poet Laureate did not perform. They were just there to support. yeah um Eric welcomed everyone, performed their own pieces. And then they welcomed, I don't know, maybe 12 to, you know, around that of of community poets who got up and spoke to all sorts of things.
00:04:30
Speaker
You know, it's an opportunity for people to, i think, get really comfortable with their own art practice, their own expression. It's a really safe environment to, you know, speak what you need to speak, you know, all truth and love. It's it's very, um it's just a wonderful community space. And there's also a lot of, um you know, music integrated. And so there's sort of this this great vibe of multidiscipline, which is actually one of the foundations for this particular residency.
00:04:57
Speaker
um So as we look to National
Expanding Cultural Arts Accessibility
00:04:59
Speaker
Poetry Month. Yeah, I was going to ask you, yeah, what what do we got going on this month? We have a lot. um So we're kicking off tomorrow, April 2nd. Every Thursday of the month, Eric will host either a workshop or an event or some sort of.
00:05:12
Speaker
So it's a series of it's whether it's a performance workshop, a publication, and how to actually become a published author. Nice. We also have an open mic as part of the month.
00:05:23
Speaker
And then we have a big culmination event next. at the end and we'll sort of do, where we're at all branches. um Eric won't be at all branches because they're only one person, but yeah National Poetry Month will be. So Eric will be featured alongside other really well-known poets like Susie Q. Smith and Franklin Cruz. So it's really dynamic mix of programming.
00:05:46
Speaker
Everything's free and open to the public. ah Workshops do need an advanced registration, but, um but the big kickoff event or the big culmination event sure at the end is called the exchange. And that's really about music and movement and the, the synergy between um poetry, lyricism, how we can, you know, really sort of connect in these different ways. And that will be a larger event.
00:06:11
Speaker
Um, So we're really just looking forward to all of them. There are a lot of different access points. If you want something smaller, you want to work on your craft, you just want to see people perform. You just want to gather with community. There's really a way to do it kind of no matter where you are in the county and where you are as a, you know, as a community member and artist.
00:06:30
Speaker
That's pretty cool that we, as in the county or the poet laureate and anything are meeting our residents kind of where they're at. You mentioned the accessibility piece of that. Can you speak to that a little bit?
00:06:40
Speaker
Yes, we, that, I mean, that is, that is really a very, i mean, that's a goal of probably the county as a whole, but it's definitely a goal of the cultural arts division. And, and we have, you know, a number of public art projects or programming or all of these things that really do that.
00:06:57
Speaker
This one in particular is about that countywide reach. You know, we are partner with anything. They have branches in Bennett. They have branches in federal Heights and you're the Pearl Mac. Um, so commerce city it's, it's county, churches the whole county. Yeah. And then there have a mobile unit, which goes literally to where people are. And then they also just launched anything world, which is a virtual platform.
00:07:20
Speaker
And there actually will be ah some national poetry month workshops on that one with Eric, that one i believe is the publishing. So anyone can be part of that um and can do it from, you know, the comfort of wherever they are. So it really is important to make sure that we're meeting people where they are and we're communicating out and then we're sort of bringing people in and it really is this two-way dialogue that's awesome so i want to talk to you talk to you a little bit about some other projects that you guys got going on but if folks want to find out events coming up with eric and the poet laureate and and just april in general where can folks go i know you and your team have been doing a ton of work on our adams county website as well Yes, yes.
Finding Cultural Arts Information
00:08:02
Speaker
Our website and we have a cultural arts landing page. Our entire department has has a section and there's one specific to the arts and a lot of information there on Poet Laureate.
00:08:12
Speaker
And then any think libraries is where they would go to actually sign up for workshops. um And I definitely encourage people to sign up for the Artfully Adams newsletter as well because we put a lot of information in there and it's always different. Um, so we have a lot, we, we feature a lot of the videos we work on and a lot of just ways that you can access the arts.
00:08:32
Speaker
Amazing. So
Future Art Projects and Community Engagement
00:08:33
Speaker
let's take a couple of minutes. Let's talk about the projects you guys do a ton of projects at our facilities and whatnot. Um, kind of tell us what you got going on, what's coming, uh, for the cultural arts team.
00:08:43
Speaker
Well, we do have a lot of big ones. um We just closed a call for entry for the Pecos Street Medians, and that was ah a really large infrastructure project that Public Works did over the last several years right at the gateway of Adams County 52nd up to 56th. And it was a ah beautiful work done on, you know road widening and medians went in safety, pedestrian safety, sidewalks, curb gutter, and the public art phase. We were able to
00:09:15
Speaker
ah get in at the last minute and we, we poured some footers in those medians. And so we have a sculpture series that we are going to work on there. And so we did a big call for entry, had wonderful response and we've gathered our unique selection panel, which is made up of again, meeting people where they are. We, we sent out a postcard to the entire neighborhood around there. It was about 1500 homes in the area um asking, you know, Hey, we have these unique selection panels. Do you want to get engaged? We had some great response there.
00:09:44
Speaker
And we will go through our process, which is a jury selection. It's a really um a dynamic way for a community to get involved and really look at this incredible amount of you know wonderful artists, local, regional, national artists that applied.
00:09:59
Speaker
awesome. Yeah. that's just fun. So there's so many. I can talk i could talk to you for
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:10:04
Speaker
hours. Right. Right. But Zoe, I appreciate your time so much. it's always good to talk to you because I know you guys have a lot going on and let's let's try to check in with you guys here soon. But just um April National Poetry Month is going to be a great month for you and for our Poet Laureate, Eric Francis. And um again, if you want to check anything out, check out their their website, Cultural Arts. You could probably just Google Adams County Cultural Arts and it it'll come up.
00:10:27
Speaker
um But check it out. And um again, just appreciate your time, Zoe. Thanks so much. Thank you. That's a wrap for this episode of All In Adams. Thank you for joining us as we explore the people, programs, and the policies that make Adams County a great place to live, work, and thrive.
00:10:44
Speaker
If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe and share with your friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know. We're all in for bringing you the stories that matter most.
00:10:55
Speaker
Until next time, take care of each other and stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and X. We're all in, Adams, and we're all in for you.