2021 WITS Back-to-School Virtual Fundraiser

Past Event: Thursday, September 23, 2021

At lectures.org

Online

Thank you for helping to raise
$123,055 of our $110,000 goal
to send our talented WITS writers
back to school!

Every gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $50,000,
thanks to our generous WITS Challenge Fund donors.

Donate

I glide between the land of this and that.
I open the new world.

— Tiger Nhan, WITS student

Please join us for an afternoon of inspiration, possibility, and community to help Seattle Arts & Lectures raise $110,000 to send our WITS Writers-in-Residence back to school!

WITS matches talented local creative writers with local public schools and Seattle Children’s Hospital for year-long writing residencies to inspire and engage thousands of K-12 students each year. After a year-and-a-half of being online, students, teachers, and WITS writers are finally returning to school for in-person learning and teaching.

Together, we can get our WITS writers back in classrooms to guide students in navigating and processing—through reading and writing—the multiple griefs they’ve experienced in the past year and the hopeful possibilities that lie ahead.

Our 30-minute virtual gathering will showcase the powerful voices of WITS participants—from students to teachers to parents—and highlight the important work of our writers-in-residence.

We can’t wait to see you there!

REGISTRATION

Free to attend

Registered guests receive a packet of WITS delights in the mail, including:

A poem from WITS student Tiger Nhan
A writing prompt from WITS writer Sierra Nelson
A love note from Education Director Alicia Craven

Delights will be mailed the week of September 14, 2021

WITH HEARTFELT THANKS TO…

Our 2021 WITS Challenge Fund Donors
Anonymous | Jennifer Cast & Liffy Franklin
Debra D. Dahlen & Bob Fries

Your support makes it possible for SAL to...

place WITS Writers-in-Residence in extended classroom residencies at 27 local public schools to inspire over 4,600 K-12 students this year alone;

bring leading authors and poets of our time to meet with local K-12 students at their schools and provide free tickets for WITS students to attend SAL author events;

professionally produce a beautiful annual WITS anthology to share the powerful creative voices of WITS students more broadly (get your copy here);

create a greater sense of belonging among WITS students—88% of WITS students say they feel acknowledged and accepted in their WITS class;

support WITS classroom teachers for the long-term—all WITS teachers say that they will apply what they’ve learned from their WITS writer to their teaching practice;

encourage even reluctant students to see themselves as writers—93% of WITS classroom teachers say that most or many their students develop a greater enjoyment of writing and more than 80% of WITS students say they are proud of their writing;

identify and bring together talented young writers committed to poetry, performance, civic engagement, and equity to help them make their voices heard as part of our Seattle Youth Poet Laureate program. (Get a copy of our 2020/21 Seattle Youth Poet Laureate Bitaniya Giday’s first collection of poetry, Motherland, here);

curate our Local Voices poetry reading series featuring our talented WITS Writers-in-Residence;

do all this and more!

Video

Event Details

lectures.org

Closed Captioning is an option for people who have hearing loss, where captioning displays the words that are spoken or sung at the bottom of the video. Captioning is available for all online events; click the “CC” button to view captions during the event.

Sign Language Interpretation is available upon request for Deaf, DeafBlind, and hard of hearing individuals at online events. To make a request for ASL interpretation, please contact us at boxoffice@lectures.org or 206.621.2230×10, or select Sign Language Interpretation from the Accessibility section during your ticket checkout process, and we will reach out to you to confirm details. Please note: we appreciate a two-week advance notice to allow us time to secure interpretation.

We are pleased to offer these accessibility services for online events, and they are provided at no additional cost to ticket holders. Please contact us with any questions and feedback about how we can be more accessible and inclusive. Our Patron Services Manager is available at boxoffice@lectures.org, or Monday-Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at 206.621.2230×10. For more accessibility information, please head to lectures.org/accessibility.

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