Heights Arts seeks next Heights poet laureate

The current Heights Poet Laureate, Siaara Freeman, performs a reading during the Ekphrastacy event in October.

Heights Arts, the Cleveland Heights-based multidisciplinary arts organization, is seeking applications for the position of Heights Poet Laureate. The selected poet will serve a two-year term, April 2025 to March 2027, coinciding with the organization’s 25th anniversary.

The Heights Poet Laureate will receive an annual stipend and play an active role in community and civic events. Throughout their tenure, they will also lead Heights Arts’ beloved Ekphrastacy – Artists Talk and Poets Respond series, which connects visual and literary art.

Applications will be accepted through Dec. 31, 2024. Eligible candidates must commit to the full 24-month term and either reside in Cleveland Heights or University Heights, or demonstrate a strong connection to the Heights community.

Heights Arts established the Cleveland Heights Poet Laureateship in 2000. It was the first program of its kind in Ohio. Designed to celebrate and elevate poetry as a vital art form in the community, the program became the Heights Poet Laureateship in 2023 with the support of both Cleveland Heights and University Heights.

The laureateship is a unique honor that is renewed biennially. Heights Arts’ staff, in partnership with the Heights Writes Community Team—composed of literary arts experts and local volunteers—selects a Cleveland-area poet to carry forward this tradition.

“We were thrilled to join Cleveland Heights in the Heights Poet Laureate program,” said University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan. “Adding poetry to our city events has been inspirational and has helped bring residents together. I look forward to supporting this program going forward.”

The current poet laureate, Siaara Freeman, has brought dynamic energy to the Cleveland poetry scene. Freeman is a decorated artist, recognized as a 2023 Room in the House fellow with Karamu Theater, a 2022 Catapult fellow with Cleveland Public Theater, and a four-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize. Her work has been featured in The Journal, Josephine Quarterly, Cleveland Magazine, and other publications, and her poetry has resonated with audiences nationally and internationally.

Poets who would like to apply should visit the Heights Arts website, https://www.heightsarts.org/press-release/heights-arts-seeks-applications-for-12th-heights-poet-laureate/

For more information about Heights Arts’ poetry programming, visit https://www.heightsarts.org/heights-writes.