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Contact:
Kimberly Nightingale, kimberly@saintpaulalmanac.org
651-785-6268
Clarence White, clarence@saintpaulalmanac.org
612-267-9036
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SAINT PAUL (November 3, 2015) – Saint Paul Almanac is celebrating its newest publishing initiative, Impressions. Impressions provides yet another outlet for Saint Paul to tell its story in its own authentic voice where writers’ work will be posted on broadsides in the trains and buses of our city.
“The Saint Paul Almanac is about bringing people’s stories about where they live to where they live,” said Saint Paul Almanac editor in chief Shaquan Foster. “The Almanac has been sharing the ways in which we love Saint Paul for a decade. Now, we are putting the Almanac on wheels—a book moving around town. We are giving our stories a new set of eyes.”
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge funds ideas that engage and enrich Saint Paul through the arts. With seed funding from a Knight Foundation Arts Challenge Grant, the Almanac will work with 24 local writers and 24 local artists to publish and produce six broadsides each quarter, 24 broadsides for the year, inside 100 trains and buses in Saint Paul. Each broadside is a unique poster of a local poet’s poem combined with a local artist’s work as a reflection of that poem. The Almanac will employ the elements of its unique Community Editor process to create this roaming collection of visual and literary art.
“Wouldn’t it be fabulous to see your friend, or grandmother, or uncle published on a bus?” said Nightingale. “Having a public audience to one’s art changes people’s lives. People experience having a public identity, often for the first time, that opens up new opportunities for them to imagine themselves as agents for change in their own lives and in the entire community’s life.”
Some of the broadsides will be reproduced in a larger form and displayed at light rail station kiosks. Additionally, broadsides will be available for purchase.
It will be an exciting year for the Almanac. The Impressions project will include:
Saint Paul Almanac is a literary-centered arts organization that has been publishing a literary journal of Saint Paul stories for the past decade. We share stories across cultures and cultivate dialogue to promote understanding, relationships, and collaborative action supported by the values of storytelling, mentoring, equity, and impact through the arts and work.