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Commission highlights Poetry Out Loud, residency awards and summer internships
Summary
Commissioners heard updates on arts-education initiatives: Poetry Out Loud regional competition March 15, Celebrate the Creative Spark residency application outcomes and summer internship planning for 2025.
Arts-education staff reported on several youth and community programs during the Commission on the Arts and Humanities meeting on Feb. 20, including the regional Poetry Out Loud competition, a residency program for teaching artists and plans for summer internships.
Hector (last name not specified in transcript), chair of the arts-education committee, said 13 schools are confirmed for Poetry Out Loud and that the regional competition will take place Saturday, March 15 at Planet Word, 925 Thirteenth Street NW, with doors opening at noon and the event concluding about 3 p.m. "This year's regional competition will take place on Saturday, March 15 at Planet Word... 13 confirmed area high schools," he said.
The committee also reported on the Celebrate the Creative Spark residency for senior communities and pre-K through grade 12 DCPS students. Staff said they received more applications than funds would allow; the transcript records that a number of applicants were deferred to FY26 and that 20 applicants were confirmed, but the exact phrasing and counts in the meeting were partly unclear.
For summer internships, staff reported that the call for 2025 summer interns received 75 applicants across public arts, events, communications, arts education and the resource allocation team; the internship program is slated to run roughly May–August 2025.
Why it matters: These education programs provide teaching-artist opportunities, student engagement and paid internship pathways for local youth and arts professionals. Poetry Out Loud feeds into a national recitation competition and can raise visibility for participating schools.
What happens next: Poetry Out Loud regional competition will proceed March 15; staff will notify applicants to the residency program of awards and deferrals and will begin summer-internship placements in May–June.
Ending: Commissioners encouraged attendance and participation in the March events and thanked staff for their work connecting students and teaching artists.
