“The Voice of Canadian Arts and Culture…. The CCA is a non-partisan, non-profit cultural advocacy organization. We provide a national forum for debate on cultural policy and are the leading national advocate for Canada’s artists and cultural institutions and industries.” See list of advocacy resources.

Canada
http://www.ccarts.ca/en/

“The Writers’ Union of Canada is holding an Awakening in Ottawa, on April 16, 2007 and your voice is important. Come and help us “awaken” the Harper government to the cultural and economic contribution the arts make to Canada.”

Date: Parliament Hill at 1:30 pm. Ottawa. Monday, April 16, 2007
Ottawa,  Ontario,  Canada
http://www.writersunion.ca/av_awakening.asp

“CRANE (Conflict Resolution, Arts & Intercultural Experience) developed a literature and resource review and annotated bibliography to explore what information exists on the intersections of arts, culture and conflict resolution. The literature review also aims to provide information, support and ideas for practitioners and theorists working in these fields.”

“The annotated bibliography includes a wide range of academic resources as well as links to practice-based material including theatre organizations, community dialogues, poetry, music, visual arts and more. A spectrum of practices and traditions from around the world are included. Materials were collected through academic journal searches, key authors, and suggestions from local artists, arts organizations, and conflict resolution practitioners.”

Bibliography available for download or purchase at site. See also their Writing New Lines for Peace contest.

UBC Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver,  British Columbia,  Canada
http://www.law.ubc.ca/pdr/crane/publications/litreview.html

“The Canadian Cultural Observatory is an information service for all who are interested in Canada’s cultural development…. The Observatory disseminates cultural policy and research information in Canada and abroad through Culturescope.ca, its interactive hub, and the Observatory’s subscription-based eNewsletter.” Crazy amount of stuff.

Canada
http://www.culturescope.ca/ev_en.php

by Margeret Atwood. Globe and Mail. February 3, 2007. “It’s Use It or Lose It time for the artists of Canada. Thanks to the Stephen Harper government’s Shoot the Piano Player policies, the Canadian creative community now finds itself pondering some rabble-rousing in relation to government non-support for the arts. Rumour has it there’s even an Ottawa demonstration or two in the works. When was the last time that happened?”

For a brief spell you could read the article online for free. Now it’s been eaten by the maw. Someone besides the piano player wants your money. In fact, $4.95 plus tax for an article you could print on two sides of an eight-and-a-half by eleven inch page, an article that mustered up some muscle to dig at complacency…. Nice scalp fee slapped on that public letter. Shame not everyone will get to read O.W. Toad’s lowdown on Plato’s Republic. But there perhaps another reason to invest in the arts.

Toronto,  Ontario,  Canada
http://www.theglobeandmail.com

“PEN Canada, one of 144 centres of International PEN in 102 countries, is a literary and human rights association formed in 1926 to protect everyone’s right to freedom of expression.” See events page.

Canada
http://www.pencanada.ca/

“Poets Against War Canada seeks to engage poets and readers of all kinds in creating a unified public voice against war, tyranny and oppression.”

Post poems in English or French online and participate in online forum.

List to audio-file of interview between poets Jeffrey Mackie (100 Poets against War) and Sandra Stephenson (poetsagainstwar.ca).

Date: ongoing Peace Poetry Jams in various location in Canada and around the world
Canada
http://www.poetsagainstwar.ca/

“Conflict Resolution, Arts and Intercultural Experience (CRANE) is a University of British Columbia initiative exploring arts-based approaches to cross cultural conflicts. Visual and performing arts, music and traditional arts are important resources for bridging differences. They take us out of stuck places and help provide a foundation for building constructive, mutually respectful relationships. If we are to find ways to address ongoing local and global conflicts, we need the creativity and imagination evoked by the arts.”

“Poetry is an art form with a history of appeal across cultures. The CRANE project is soliciting poetry about conflict, peace, religious or cultural differences, or conflict resolution. Our goal is to collect poems from a wide range of people and publish a selection of them online and in print.* This collection will be available without charge online, and will –we hope - inspire others to create poetry and art that adds to collective understandings of conflict and ways to bridge it.”

International Poetry Contest: Writing New Lines for Peace. Theme: Animating Peace through Poetry. Submission Deadline: March 30, 2007 See link for details.

Date: Next deadline. March 30, 2007
UBC Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver,  British Columbia,  Canada
http://www.law.ubc.ca/pdr/crane/contest/index.html

Not exactly a poetry anthology, this unique collection edited by Will Garrett-Petts does feature writing by a number of Western Canadian poets. “In these twenty-five essays, poems, stories, and visual pieces, the authors of The Small Cities Book explore what it means to live in a smaller community during the era of global megacities…. Using the central British Columbia city of Kamloops as their example, the authors explore notions of social capital and community asset building, especially as they relate to the politics and aesthetics of self-representation, to notions of home and homelessness, to ideas of space and a local sense of place.”

Kamloops,  British Columbia,  Canada
http://newstarbooks.com/view-book.asp?id=19&c=Social%20Science

“a place where writers from all cultures meet to discuss, debate and communicate”

“International PEN, the worldwide association of writers with 144 Centres in 101 Countries, exists to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere, to fight for freedom of expression and represent the conscience of world literature.”

See also their online magazine.

International
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/

“On March 5th 2007, a car bomb was exploded on Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad. More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. This locale is the historic center of Baghdad bookselling, a winding street filled with bookstores and outdoor book stalls. Named after the famed 10th century classical Arab poet, Al-Mutanabbi, this is an old and established street for bookselling and has been for hundreds of years. It has been the heart and soul of the Baghdad literary and intellectual community.”

To remember the tragic event, various readings are planned for the end of August 2007 including a memorial reading at the San Francisco Main Library Auditorium, August 26th, at 1 P.M. Sponsored by the Mutanabbi Street Coalition (a coalition of poets, writers, artists, printers, booksellers and readers).

Call to Action for Letterpress printers: DEADLINE for the broadsides: August 15 2007.
Call to Action for Booksellers. To help or find out more about the initiatives, contact Overlandbooks[at]earthlink[dot]net.

See also Artifact.

Date: Various events beginning in late August 2007. San Francisco Main Library August 26, 2007. 1pm.
Mutanabbi Street is in Baghdad,  International
http://artifactseries.blogspot.com/2007/05/call-for-volunteers-mutanabbi-street.html

“An initiative developed in the framework of the Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity, as well as a centre for information, guidance and encounter for all those (translators, publishers, researchers, archivists, teachers) working on the discovery and promotion of still unknown literatures.”

International
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1523&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

“The idea of taking international action for the promotion of poetry has led to recognition of and given fresh impetus to national, regional and worldwide initiatives in favour of poetry. The main aim of this action is to encourage linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to provide endangered languages with an opportunity to be heard in their communities.”

International
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12329amp;&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

“Conceived to promote poetry and give recognition and new momentum in this field, World Poetry Day will be the occasion for several events aimed at highlighting cultural diversity.”

“March 21 was proclaimed World Poetry Day at the 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in Paris in 1999.” Read the proclamation.

“Tuesday 20 March 2007. Poetry reading will be given by : Marie-Claire Bancquart, Tahar Bekri, Magda Carneci, Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, Jacques Darras, Charles Dobzynski, Marie Etienne, Marilyn Hacker, Jean Métellus, Luis Mizon, Azadée Nichapour, Nimrod, Jean Portante, Lionel Ray, Frédéric Jacques Temple, Zoé Valdès. This event is organized by Conflences Association with the support of the Embassy of Luxembourg in France.”

“Wednesday 21 March 2007. Poetry evening will be presented within the framework of the collaboration between UNESCO and the International Poetry Festival of Struga. This event is organized by the Poetry Evenings of Struga and the Permanent delegation of The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to UNESCO.”

Date: Next World Poetry Day. March 21, 2008
International
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=33392&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html

“Welcome to the World Poetry Directory, a website created and hosted by UNESCO following the proclamation of World Poetry Day.”

“This website brings you lists of festivals, prizes, journals and associations of the world of poetry.”

(“March 21 was proclaimed World Poetry Day at the 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in Paris in 1999.”)

International
http://www.unesco.org/poetry/bienvenue.php?initia=english

“The Poetry Cubicle’s founding aims are to explore, interpret, document, preserve and archive ‘poetry’ in its myriad, and hybrid, forms, expressions and states, and to provide access to such artistic expressions through the physical and digital realms to as wide an audience as possible.”

See also The itinerant Poetry Librarian weblog.

Norwich,  U.K. (England)
http://www.thepoetrycubicle.org.uk/indexTPC.html

“Artifact is a literary organization committed to the development of avant-garde writing.”

“We run a monthly house reading series, a chapbook press, and yearly public and educational writing projects.”

See also the artifact series blog and the Mutanabbi Street Memorial Reading

San Francisco Bay Area,  United States
http://www.artifactsf.org/

“John Campion is the founder of the Ecotropic movement, which holds that for human culture to be healthy it must exist as in an ecological niche and thereby re-late appropriately with all the fields of forces. His poetry art, philosophy, and criticism reflect ecotropic values.”

Learn more about Ecotropic Works, the Medusa Project and other poetry projects at World a Tuning Fork.

Oakland, California,  United States
http://worldatuningfork.com/John/

City Lore and the Bowery Poetry Club Present the People’s Poetry Gathering and the People’s Poetry Project. “In the spirit of Brazillian cordel (string) poets who hold forth in marketplaces with their poetry chapbooks strung across stalls, the People’s Poetry Gathering stretches a clothesline of poems from around the world across the streets of Lower Manhattan.”

• Interactive World Poetry Map: “a geographical presentation of oral and written traditions from the world’s endangered and contested languages”
• The People’s Poetry Language Initiative: A Declaration Of Poetic Rights And Values
• Educational Material including A Teacher’s Guide to Oral Poetry Traditions

Lower Manhattan, New York,  United States
http://www.peoplespoetry.org/

“The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.”

“Upon receipt of a major gift from philanthropist Ruth Lilly, the Poetry Foundation was established in 2003, evolving from the Modern Poetry Association, which was founded in 1941. The Poetry Foundation is one of the largest literary foundations in the world.” Sign up for their email list.

Chicago, Illinois,  United States
http://www.poetryfoundation.org

“Poets in need is a non-profit organization aiding poets in crises.”

Berkeley, California,  United States
http://www.poetsinneed.org/

“America’s premier independent literary center, founded in 1976, promotes the art of contemporary writing by building a community of writers, workshop leaders, publishers and audiences.”

“The Writer’s Center is a non-profit community of writers supporting each other in the creation and marketing of literary texts. The Writer’s Center annually conducts hundreds of workshops in various genres of writing. Workshop participants share with one another their work-in-progress under the guidance of an experienced instructor who is also a published author.”

workshops, readings, conferences, bookstore…

Bethesda, Maryland,  United States
http://www.writer.org/index.asp