Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Naming Angela Trudell Vasquez as Madison’s Poet Laureate.
Body
WHEREAS poetry tells the history of humanity and locates community at a particular point in time; and,
WHEREAS poetry is a way of one human being reaching out to another across ages, across times, across cultures; and,
WHEREAS poetry is a visual art form as much as it is music, and knowledge of poetic traditions allows us to know more about our own culture and lives, and serves as a passport to other cultures and worlds; and,
WHEREAS Angela Trudell Vasquez (Angie) has been writing since the age of seven, and early on saw the beauty in literature and understood its power to heal, create empathy and understanding; and,
WHEREAS Angie Trudell Vasquez is a local, national and international published poet who has been performing in Madison since 2005 at such places as: the Chazen Museum of Art, Arts + Literature Laboratory, A Room of One’s Own, Overture Center for the Arts, Madison Area Technical College, Olbrich Gardens, Mother Fools, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Fighting Bob Fest, Edgewood College, the Majestic Theatre, Madison’s Common Council and WORT Radio; and,
WHEREAS Angie Trudell Vasquez has been publishing poems for over thirty years, has written three collections of poetry, the latest published in May 2019 by Finishing Line Press entitled, In Light, Always Light after she was a finalist for the New Women’s Voices Series in 2018; and,
WHEREAS Angie Trudell Vasquez is an award winning poet and has been nominated for two Pushcarts, one for poetry and one for an essay, and was a Poetry Foundation Ruth Lilly fellow as an undergraduate, and holds a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts; and,
WHEREAS Angie Trudell Vasquez is committed to preserving the legacy of past Madison Poets Laureate by continuing to support the programs they created; and,
WHEREAS Angie Trudell Vasquez will offer free poetry workshops, create zines, and hold public poetry readings for the residents of Madison at public libraries all over the city for all ages and levels; and,
WHEREAS she intends to mentor young poets throughout the city and in the Madison Metropolitan School District; and,
WHEREAS Angie Trudell Vasquez has been teaching poetry since 2005 and knows poetry can be taught, and she has developed numerous poetry workshops and traveled all over the state promoting poetry and teaching others her methodology; and,
WHEREAS the Madison Arts Commission enthusiastically supports the nomination of Angie Trudell Vasquez as the next Poet Laureate of Madison,
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Madison, Wisconsin does hereby name Angie Trudell Vasquez Madison Poet Laureate effective January 20, 2020.