Thirty-five Vermont high school students will gather in Barre on March 9 to participate in the Poetry Out Loud State Semifinals. Now in its 11th year, the national recitation competition has inspired hundreds of thousands of American high school students to discover and commit to memory classic and contemporary poetry.

A record 5,420 students across Vermont participated this year. Student winners from 35 schools will come to the Barre Opera House to compete for one of ten places in the finals, which will take place at Vermont PBS on March 17.

We invite friends, family, and poetry lovers to join us on March 9. If you can't attend in person, watch the live stream.

Applications for Creation and Arts Impact Grants opened on March 2. Creation Grants support the development of new work by Vermont Artists. They can fund time, materials, and space rental for artists and artist groups.

Arts Impact Grants replace Project Grants to support organizations, municipalities, and schools in their efforts to create a more vibrant quality of life by providing equal and abundant access to the arts.

Grant seeker workshops will be held during the first week of April in several locations around the state. Specific dates and locations will be announced in the March 17 ArtMail. For more information about grant programs visit the Grants and Services section of our website.

If your organization is considering a Cultural Facilities Grant application this year, we encourage you to attend a grant seeker workshop. There are two workshops coming up in March, which will be held from 2 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

• Monday, March 7, Vermont Folklife Center, 88 Main Street, Middlebury
• Tuesday, March 15, Vermont Arts Council, 136 State Street, Montpelier

  RSVP here or call Troy Hickman, 802.828.3292.

Vermont Arts Advocacy Day is Tuesday, March 29. It's a day for the arts community to connect with elected officials about the value of arts and culture in individual and collective life.

We invite you to add your voice, passion, and arts advocacy to the day. This year we have developed a new campaign - Arts Collector Cards - to communicate with the legislature in a fun and meaningful way. Fill out a simple form, send us your best selfie, and we will magically transform it into a Vermont Arts Collector Card. Submissions are already rolling in, like the one from artist Sarah-Lee Terrat shown here. Don't delay. The deadline is March 16.

Don't miss this opportunity to support public funding for the arts in Vermont!