Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Recognizing the dedicated service and outstanding achievements of Wendy Vardaman and Sarah Busse, during their tenure as Madison Poets Laureate.
Body
WHEREAS, Wendy Vardaman and Sarah Busse, have served as extraordinary Poets Laureate for the City of Madison since January 16, 2012; and,
WHEREAS, they stewarded and expanded Metro Transit’s Bus Lines program; and,
WHEREAS, they co-edited and published the anthology Echolocations: Poets Map Madison, in the Fall 2013, and the book served as a way to publish local writers as well as raise funds for the Madison Poet Laureate endowment; and,
WHEREAS, they curated a series of poetry readings before Common Council meetings to celebrate and inspire civility in civil discourse; and,
WHEREAS, they took numerous interviews, maintaining the high public profile of the position established by previous Poets Laureates; and,
WHEREAS, they published the work of a diversity of other local poets through their publishing company, Cowfeather Press and through their magazine, Verse Wisconsin; and,
WHEREAS, they organized and hosted numerous poetry events, including the annual Olbrich Gardens Reading and a Women’s Write-In series, providing area poets with the opportunity to read and write, strengthening their voices and a sense of literary communities; and,
WHEREAS, they generously shared their time and their poetry with the community, bringing poetry to diverse audiences from TEMPO to Poetry Camp to conferences; and,
WHEREAS, they worked with the Wisconsin Book Festival, Pass the Mic/First Wave, and with Forward Theater, developing poetry content for these important public events; and,
WHEREAS, through their outreach they shared the Madison Poet Laureate tradition with other Wisconsin Communities, for example, forming a partnership with the Wormfarm Institute in Reedsburg to create roadside poetry signs for the annual Farm Art DTour; and,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Madison, Wisconsin, do hereby recognize the dedicated service and outstanding achievements of Wendy Vardaman and Sarah Busse, during their tenure as Madison Poets Laureate.