David Grant’s Letter Announcing the 2010 Festival
Dear Friends,
It is with deep pleasure and appreciation that I write you to officially announce that the 2010 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival will be held in Newark, New Jersey, beginning on Thursday evening, October 7th and ending Sunday afternoon, October 10th.
Tickets will go on sale in April, National Poetry Month. Information about all aspects of the Festival will be available and continuously updated over the next several months, be sure to check back with us.
You know from my past messages that a year ago we did not expect to have a Festival in 2010. We had experienced a dramatic decline in the Foundation’s assets at the same time as the struggling nonprofit sector and wider world needed us more than ever. The demands on our grantmaking budget were, and they remain, intense.
Happily, offers to help came from many directions, including from many of you, and we decided to create a new financial model for the Festival. Dodge will continue to be its principal funder and in charge of the artistic program, but other sponsors are stepping in, and our main partners in Newark – the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and The City of Newark – are doing everything they can to make this an extraordinary event for all who attend.
Part of the new financial model is the creation of FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL, an opportunity for individuals to help us continue our work with poets, teachers and students through the Dodge Poetry Festival, Schools Program and Archive Project. To become a Friend of the Festival, go to the link on our sidebar.
If you would prefer to pay by check, please put "Friends of the Festival" on the memo line, and make the check payable to the "Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation." Checks should be mailed to:
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Attn: Friends of the Festival
14 Maple Avenue. P.O. Box 1239
Morristown, NJ 07962
All Friends of the Festival will be acknowledged in the Festival Program, and those who are able to donate $100 or more will receive a card entitling them to a 10% discount on Festival merchandise (posters, t-shirts, mugs, etc. featuring the popular Festival logo).
We are grateful to the generous supporters who have already made gifts to our Poetry Program, and we look forward to welcoming many more into the group that has literally saved the Festival this past year and is ensuring its future.
Best wishes from all of us at the Dodge Foundation, and we look forward to seeing you in Newark in October!