I am often asked, “so what are you first: a writer, an organizer, or a public humanist?”
That question assumes the skills and mindsets of each of those roles are somehow distinct and disconnected when in reality they are intertwined, supplementing and enhancing each other. My tool belt as an organizer includes artmaking and writing activities, not only how to build a project management spreadsheet. My writing is enriched by collaborating with others designing programs to move the world toward equity and justice. My public humanities projects often require managing and coordinating groups of people, planning events, and evaluating and writing clearly about outcomes.
I currently serve as the Associate Director of Artistic Planning and Community Engagement in Colby College’s Arts Office, operationalizing and activating newly opens arts faciltiaties. As an independent contractor, I work with cultural and social service organizations as well as independent artists to support their programmatic development and evaluation, facilitate partnerships and connections, and build capacity for meaningful impact. My mission is to create structures that leverage arts and cultural experiences with and for historically under-resourced communities to enable all of us to live more vibrant, healthy, and connected lives.
I’ve worked with large and small nonprofits including Split This Rock, AARP Foundation, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, The DC Center, and Dance Exchange. Through all of my professional experience and the tools I carry as a writer, organizer, and public humanist, I hold the values of care, community, creativity, self-awareness, and support.
I am originally from South Carolina but live in Waterville, ME with my partner, Matthew Cumbie. You’ll often find me in the kitchen, either cooking up a feast (come on over!) or prototyping baked goods for Queer Cookies poetry slam. I hold a Masters in Public Humanities from Brown University.
Bio:
Tyler French (he/him/his) is a writer, organizer, and public humanist living in Waterville, ME. His first full-length book of poetry, He Told Me was published by Capturing Fire Press May 2019. He has writing in Artivate, Assaracus: A Journal of Gay Poetry, Beech Street Review, Bending Genres Journal, Stoked Words, an anthology of queer poetry, and The Quarry, Split This Rock’s Social Justice Poetry Database. He is a co-creator and baker for Queer Cookies, a hybrid poetry/cookbook, poetry series ,and bake sale supporting queer-identified poets. He holds a masters in Public Humanities from Brown University.
