May 022018
 

Launched as a recognition event 10 years ago to “pay tribute to the poets and writers of the past while experiencing the creative energy of today’s literary artists,” the Massachusetts Poetry Festival has since become the nation’s largest such annual event. It showcases nearly 100 poetry readings & workshops, a small press and literary fair, panels, poetry slams, visual arts, and open-air performances.

This weekend, May 4-6, Salem once again plays host to more than 150 poets who will engage with thousands of New Englanders. Will you be among them?

Check out the full Massachusetts Poetry Festival schedule: http://www.masspoetry.org/schedule-2018

Panel topics range from the state of poetry, poetry and gender, book publishing, and modernism in contemporary art, to the Common Threads Reading, where contemporary poets with Massachusetts ties discuss their literary connections.

Speaking of poets, the 2018 Headliners include: Sonia Sanchez · Kaveh Akbar · Duy Doan · Jeffrey Harrison · Dorianne Laux · Erika Meitner · Carl Phillips · Nicole Sealey · Sean Thomas Dougherty · Rhina P. Espaillat

Venues

One of the reasons the Massachusetts Poetry Festival takes place in Salem is that we have so many venues that lend themselves to help promote the words and spirit of poetry.

  • Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex Street
  • Hawthorne Hotel, 18 Washington Square
  • Old Town Hall (Festival Headquarters), 32 Derby Square
  • Museum Place Mall, 1 E India Square Mall
  • New Liberty Charter School, Rooms 1-4 (on second floor)
  • The Bridge at 211 (former First Universalist Society of Salem), 211 Bridge St
  • Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites, 225 Derby St

Mass Poetry was founded in 2008, after Mass Humanities and the Mass Cultural Council backed an effort to investigate the “state of poetry” in Massachusetts. Mass Poetry’s founder, Michael Ansara, and former Congressman Chet Atkins felt that while the Commonwealth had as many talented poets as any state, there was little recognition or support for poets, and a huge disconnect between the larger public and the wealth of poetic talent.

The goals of Mass Poetry have been to support poets and poetry in Massachusetts, to build new audiences for poetry, and to make poetry more accessible for those who need it most—often those who have the least access to it.

Come to Salem this weekend, May 4-6, to see, hear & experience for yourself the power of words in the hands of literary craftsmen and craftswomen at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival.

Share
Sep 192017
 

Now here is a scary good deal! Salem Horror Fest Opening Night Party at PEM/PM featuring Metal Macabaret will take place on the 3rd Friday of the month (that’s this Friday, Sept. 22nd at 6 pm) instead of the usual 3rd Thursday for PEM/PM.

Hauntingly inspired by the current Peabody Essex Museum Exhibition It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Art from the Kirk Hammett Collection, PEM teamed up with Salem Horror Fest to make an event that will make you tingle all over, from head to toe and through your bones!

The Salem Horror Fest, if you have been locked away in a dungeon, underground somewhere, is a four-week festival of fear (9/21-10/15) here in the Halloween-capital of the world! Screenings, exhibits, parties, concerts, guests & more!

PEM/PM Activities

Creepily create your own horror poster, dance demonly to beats by DJ Zombi and live tunes by Scary Mary and the Audio Corsette. Carve out some time to check out works by locals featured in the Women in Horror expo and enjoy a feature performance by M Lamar.

And the highlight of the evening: you won’t want to miss the 9 pm screening of Night of the Living Dead to kick off the Salem Horror Fest (separate ticket required).

This is THE ultimate big bash opening to the Halloween season!  But while costumes and masks will abound on the streets of Salem during our month-long Haunted Happenings celebration, the Peabody Essex Museum asks that for this event you refrain from any full-face makeup or masks in the museum for security reasons.

As with all PEM/PM events, it will also feature after-hours access to the museum galleries, interactive and art-focused experiences, an informal atmosphere including live music or DJ performances, tailored culinary offerings and a cash bar.

The goal is to present to the community multiple opportunities to interact with artists and performers, tinkerers and thinkers.

Members, as well as college students & Salem residents (with ID) will be admitted free of charge. For nonmembers, there is a $12 fee.

The PEM is located at East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA. For more info, call 978-745-9500, or toll free 866-745-1876.

Share
Aug 172017
 

Summer is almost over. Fun stuff done. No need to visit Salem until October. Right? WRONG!!! Here are just three things set for the next few days.

Farmers’ Market

Our successfully diverse Farmers’ Market continues its 2017 run (every Thursday now through Oct 12) with a host of regular vendors and a rotating batch as well.

For 8/17/17 come check out:

Cauldron Fermented Foods
Pour Man’s Coffee
1634 Meadery
Bare Cheek Beauty

Who is providing entertainment this week? From 5-7pm, Radio Scotvoid will be spinning vinyl jams. So, bring your dancing shoes. Or just a chair to set a spell and tap your toes!

Also, as an FYI… The Salem Farmers’ Market accepts the SNAP/EBT card. Just head for the Farmers’ Market table, located off Front St, on the Lobster Shanty side, and ask for the Market Manager. Use your SNAP/EBT card to “purchase” $1, $2, and $5 tokens. For more info on this program, go to http://salemfarmersmarket.org/ebt-info/

Salem Farmers’ Market operates Thursdays from 3-7pm in Derby Sq.

End of Summer Blues at PEM/PM

Does the thought of days getting shorter and darker earlier, and temperatures dipping bring out the end of summer blues in you? Put aside your trepidations. The Peabody Essex Museum has a festive alternative. This month’s PEM/PM late night party (also on 8/17/17) from 6-9pm will indeed be a party.

Enjoy local blues bands, lawn games and backyard BBQ food while enjoying a selection of beer. Be a part of the music with instrument making and blue jean art workshops to end the summer with a bash.

All that at a Museum? Yes, if it is the world-famous Peabody Essex Museum, located at East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA. For more info on this month’s PEM/PM event, please call 978-745-9500.

The Salem Flea

Regional and local artisans/vendors will again be on hand from 10am-5pm on Aug. 19  to showcase and sell their work this third Saturday of the month as they have all season (May-September) in historic downtown Salem at Derby Square on Front Street. This area of the city was originally built as a market place and continues to be an important public plaza and pedestrian walkway.

The Salem Flea features a juried selection of vendors of vintage and up-cycled furniture, vintage clothing, collectibles, antiques, architectural salvage as well as a select number of jewelry, art, and handmade goods by local artisans.

Just three events with more than enough activity to keep you busy as the days of summer gently breeze away.

Share
Apr 232017
 

Poetry is a bouquet, and just as a bouquet of flowers may be filled with colors, shapes, and scents, so to is a poem a blend of words, rhythms, and sounds. This will be evident May 5-7th when the 9th annual Massachusetts Poetry Festival welcomes many of America’s most admired poets to a celebration of Massachusetts’ lively contemporary poetry scene in historic downtown Salem, MA

The Mass Poetry Festival offers nearly 100 poetry readings and workshops, a small press and literary fair, panels, poetry slams, and open-air readings. Panel topics range broadly from The State of Poetry, poetry and gender, poetry and aging, book publishing, and children’s poetry.

Of special note, on Friday, May 5, MPF will host a “Student Day of Poetry” in which 300 high school students from across the Commonwealth study with acclaimed poets and instructors to discover their own unique voice.

Throughout the weekend, you are also invited to absorb the thoughts and expressions of acclaimed poets such as: Pulitzer-prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Louise Glück, Guggenheim fellow Eileen Myles, Kazim Ali, Andrea Cohen, Cornelius Eady and Rough Magic, Ross Gay, Rigoberto González, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Emily Pettit, Tom Sleigh, and Dara Wier.

For a full breakdown of the schedule go to the MPF site.

As example of the diversity:

Friday from 1:15- 2:15pm at Old Town Hall (second floor) 32 Derby Square, a relatively new genre of music known as Post Rock will be combined with poetry and in so doing create “Post Rock Poetry.” Grounded in 1980’s and 90’s indie rock music, it is primarily instrumental, guitar, base, drums, and keyboard, with few lyrics. Typically, post rock pieces are lengthy and may contain, “… repetitive build ups of timbre, dynamics and texture.” (Wikipedia, 9/11/2016.) Because Post Rock seldom has lyrics, it lends itself to the creation of Post Rock Poetry that can explore the quest for a peace, understanding, and rising above hostilities and misfortune. In short, it rings with hope.

Then Friday evening, two of the finest poets writing today— the award-winning Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil— will present from 7:30–9 p.m. in the Atrium of the Peabody Essex Museum.

Saturday afternoon will feature a musical performance by Cornelius Eady and his band Rough Magic, blending poetry and music at the Peabody Essex Museum. Headline poets Andrea Cohen, Tom Sleigh, Kazim Ali, and Rigoberto González will read throughout the day at the Peabody Essex Museum, celebrating the diversity and common threads among us all.

Saturday evening will feature award-winning poet and novelist Eileen Myles, 7:30–9 p.m. at The Bridge at 211. After her reading, she will be interviewed by WBUR’s celebrated host Christopher Lydon. Eileen Myles demonstrates the extraordinary possibilities of poetry to reveal the personal and political experiences of American life.

Venues

  • Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex Street
  • Hawthorne Hotel, 18 Washington Square
  • Old Town Hall, 32 Derby Square
  • Museum Place Mall, 1 E India Square Mall, New Liberty Charter School, Rooms 1-4 (on second floor)
  • The Bridge at 211 (Universalist Unitarian Church), 211 Bridge St
  • Howling Wolf, 76 Lafayette Street

From the beginning, the goals of Mass Poetry have been to “support poets and poetry in Massachusetts, to build new audiences for poetry, and to make poetry more accessible for those who need it most—often those who have the least access to it.” By bringing it to the streets and venues in Salem Ma, accessible to residents and visitors, the poetic bouquet of words, rhythms, and sounds can be enjoyed by so many more. You are invited to be among them.

Admission is $20, and $7 for students & seniors; an additional $10 service fee is charged for all workshops.

For additional info on The Massachusetts Poetry Festival, contact January Gill O’Neil at january@masspoetry.org.

(Photo courtesy of Creative Salem)

Share
Mar 032017
 

Did you notice a larger than usual crowd walking about Salem this evening? It will get even bigger as the 10th annual Salem Film Fest gets underway.

Regarded and highly respected as one of New England’s largest documentary film festivals, it presents a rich and diverse collection of the year’s best work from all over the world.

Film screenings take place March 3-9 at CinemaSalem, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), and the National Park Service Visitor Center. The schedule and full breadth of the week-long events can be viewed at salemfilmfest.com. Attendance at this year’s screening is easily expected to surpass last year’s record setting 6,000+ viewers.

Salem Film Fest concentrates on well-told stories with strong technical elements and interesting visual approaches, letting narratives unfold that wind their way through the human experience in the USA and foreign lands. Many of the films represent a US, East Coast or regional premiere. Filmmakers are expected to be present for more than half of the screenings, giving audiences a unique advantage to learn about the documentary process.

SFF 2017 offers a diverse schedule of feature length and short documentaries, parties, discussions, meet-and-greets, family-friendly screenings, student film showcases, and opportunities to meet visiting filmmakers in intimate settings.

Each film provides an opportunity to immerse oneself in the encounters of others in a dramatic and sensory way, embarking upon what is different and recognizing what is common to us all. “The world is an amazing place,” is an oft worn but timely phrase. Salem Film Fest affirms that travel quote for your eyes and ears to behold. And some films may strike that ‘responsive chord’ that can change your life forever.

Again, go to film titles and times for full list of options to see.

Salem Film Fest was founded in 2008 by filmmaker Joe Cultrera (HAND OF GOD), local businessman Paul Van Ness (CinemaSalem, Van Ness Creative), Executive Director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce Rinus Oosthoek and others from the community. Run and operated entirely by volunteers, the week-long festival has become a community-wide event with screenings at CinemaSalem, the Peabody Essex Museum and the National Park Service Salem Visitor Center with filmmaker parties and music events held at venues throughout downtown. Fueled by great films, dedicated volunteers and enthusiastic audiences, festival attendance has grown 15 to 25 percent each year.

Accept our invitation to see the world up close and personal.

Share