Re: Thank You from Lisa and Poetry in America
[{"sender": "jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com]", "recipients": ["Lisa New"], "timestamp": "12/19/2016 10:39:57 AM", "subject": "Re: Thank You from Lisa and Poetry in America", "body": "bamnaby is no longer there. He is at Institue for Advanced Studies... That being said, let me ask him if he can shepard you through Templeton"}, {"sender": "Lisa New", "recipients": [], "timestamp": "Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 11:36 PM", "subject": "Re: Thank You from Lisa and Poetry in America", "body": "Dear Jeffrey (and please see note at bottom),\n\nThis end-of-the-year letter is to catch you up on developments and to report progress made in 2016 by Poetry in America, by its associated non-profit production company, Verse Video Education, and by (and with) our new Harvard partner, the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Whether you are a longstanding adviser and supporter of Poetry in America, or you’ve more recently joined our circle of proponents, your contributions, thought partnership and enthusiasm have made this year’s successes possible.\n\nLast fall, I knew this would be a crucial year. Goals for 2016 included moving our co-produced television series, Poetry in America, toward a concrete release date (now entering post-production, we launch nationwide in April 2018), converting our six HarvardX MOOC modules into for-credit courses (now complete and being offered by Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education), and getting the word out on our first course developed especially for K-12 educators, Poetry in America for Teachers: The City from Whitman to Hip Hop. With a mission of creating and distributing the highest-quality humanities content for a wide variety of learners, our projects now rely on a salaried production staff of five, a rotating corps of part timers and contractors, and a growing cohort of Harvard graduate students, undergraduates and interns whom we train in the public-facing humanities. Growing fast, in 2016 we more firmly established Verse Video Education as a nimble and stable producer of humanities-based content (now including an archive of over 120 separate interviews with distinguished discussants), while also defining a forward-looking partnership and growth strategy with Harvard. As 2016 draws to a close, I have much progress to report.\n\nVerse Video Education: Independent 501c3\n\nIn April 2016, Verse Video Education, the fledgling production company I'd founded in 2014, received IRS approval and became a 501c3. Now capable of accepting philanthropic contributions, Verse Video Education has also begun to generate revenue by producing high-quality educational media for other institutions. Clients within our first year included Greenwich Country Day School, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Schlesinger Library, Harvard Institute for Global Health, and Project Zero. While philanthropic donations remain essential, work for clients allows us to amplify the impact of philanthropic donations, not only permitting additional investment in our flagship partnerships with WGBH and Harvard, but also fostering development of new partnerships and projects. These include a video series on poetry and science now running with award-winning magazine Nautilus, a collaboration with distinguished poet Robert Pinsky and his Favorite Poem Project, and an expansion of our poetry film series with partners at The Nantucket Project. Advised by a stellar and diversely talented board, Verse Video Education is looking toward sustainability. We are now discussing distribution of new content with a variety of stakeholders, including media providers in China."}]