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Engaging a Community and Providing Access to Arts

The Madison Arts Commission (MAC) in Madison, WI, has created a new program called Bus Lines that engages students in its community through poetry. The program encourages high school students to submit up to three original poems between three to five lines “of any subject affirming poetry and life” and is then displayed inside Metro Transit buses.

Bus Lines is a collaboration between MAC, Madison Poet Laureate Fabu Carter-Brisco, and the Metro Transit Authority. The program will also occur during National Poetry Month in April to promote awareness about the arts in our everyday lives. The poems will be displayed on the place cards above the seats on the city buses throughout the 2008/2009 academic year.  It’s no surprise that in these tough economic times there is no monetary prize awarded, however the chance to have their work published and viewed by the entire city is an opportunity of tremendous value and experience in itself.

This program is only one of the ways Madison, WI, is supporting poetry appreciation. Fabu is the third person to hold the honorary and voluntary position of Madison Poet Laureate since the mayor appointed John Tuschen as the first poet laureate in 1997. Last year, the Poet Laureate Program was officially added as a position under the MAC’s domain. The decision to formalize the position under MAC was intended to create greater visibility for the poet laureate, poetry, and literary arts in general. The Bus Lines program can certainly go a long way to increase visibility for the art of poetry, the arts commission, and the Poet Laureate, as well as inspiring young students to think creatively.