Organizing – Public Humanities Projects – Writing (Sometimes Performing and Baking)

for more information on projects and positions, click the title. You can download my complete CV here. 

Organizing

Literary Programs Fellow (Split This Rock, Washington, DC; 2020)

Interim Program Manager, AARP Foundation Housing Impact Area – managed a pilot helping older adults determine if they are eligible for and apply to property tax relief programs (Washington, DC; 2019)

Catalyzing Newport, Program Assistant – cross-sector, collaborative initiative with the goal of building a new vision for the city’s cultural sector (Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Providence, RI; 2015 – 17)

AmeriCorps VISTA, SNAP Outreach and Nutrition Education Coordinator – developed, implemented, and evaluated a nutrition education program for food insecure older adults (AARP Foundation, Washington, DC; 2014 – 15)

Split This Rock Poetry Festival, Volunteer Coordinator – assisted in planning and evaluating a four-day poetry and social activism festival (Split This Rock, Washington, DC; 2014 and 2018)

Public Humanities

Dance Exchange, Adjunct Artist and Interim Facilities Manager – facilitated workshops exploring community-engagement artmaking, managed studio rentals (Washington, DC; 2016 – 2018)

Humanist-in-residence, Newport Health Equity Zone – (Newport, RI; 2017 – 2018)

Queer Cookies Poetry Slam, co-organizer and baker – poetry slam, open mics, and bake sales supporting queer and trans poets (2015 – currently) 

Nourish SC – traveling exhibition about the tensions, both productive and problematic, between community food security and the local food movement in South Carolina (Columbia, SC; 2011 – 2013)

For a selection of workshops I have designed and facilitated, click here.

Writing

Artivate: a Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts – “Keying In: Getting Close to 186 Carpenter, Creative Placemaking, and the Artist Entrepreneur,” Vol. 7, Issue 1, 2018

RISD Museum Manual / a resource about art and its making – “Communicating Melancholia / Sad Young Men and Portrait of a Lady in Pink,” 2016

For poetry books and journal publications, click here. 

Performing

Featured Poet, Split This Rock’s Sunday Kind of Love (Washington, DC; Sept 2019)

Featured Poet, Capturing Fire Queer Spoken Word Slam and Summit (Washington, DC; 2019)

Growing Our Own Gardens, Dance Exchange – interdisciplinary performance engagement exploring queer worldbuildling (Washington, DC; 2015 – 2018)

Readings at 186 Carpenter – poetry readings and performance 

Sparkle: Queer Open Mic, Featured Poet – monthly open mic series (Washington, DC; January 2015)

Baking

I believe making food with and for others is central to community engagement processes and projects. I happily bring baked goods to meetings and events. Follow me on instragram for cooking and baking projects: @thfrench