Fiscal Note
No City appropriation required.
Title
Recognizing the dedicated service and outstanding achievements of Oscar Mireles during his tenure as Madison Poet Laureate.
Body
WHEREAS, Oscar Mireles has served as poet laureate for the City of Madison, and is the City's first Latinx poet laureate, since January 21, 2016; and,
WHEREAS, he stewarded the Bus Lines Program, in collaboration with Metro Transit and Edgewood College, expanding the Program to be bilingual in English and Spanish; and,
WHEREAS, as Poet Laureate, he republished the anthologies "I Didn't Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin" Volumes 1 and 2; and,
WHEREAS, he contributed poems to the Poetry in Sidewalks Program on both Spaight and Monroe Streets; and,
WHEREAS, he took numerous interviews and made many classroom appearances to maintain the high public profile of the position established by previous Poets Laureate; and,
WHEREAS, he Initiated National Poetry Month activities with the Madison Public Library including readings with Wisconsin Poets Laureates, the Parking Ticket Poetry Project on April Fool’s Day, and the annual reception for the Bus Lines poetry winners; and,
WHEREAS, he fundraised to increase the John Tuschen Poet Laureate Memorial Endowment (started by Andrea Musher) so that it now yields an annual honorarium of $500 to help offset expenses related to this voluntary position; and,
WHEREAS, in collaboration with Samantha Becker Crownover of Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, he initiated Art Party Madison, a professional networking event for artists and writers in Madison,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor and the Common Council of the City of Madison Wisconsin do hereby recognize the dedicated service and outstanding achievements of Oscar Mireles during his tenure as Madison Poet Laureate.