Statements
Mission
The Porch inspires, educates, and connects writers and readers of all ages and stages through classes and literary events.
Background
The Porch Writers' Collective inspires, educates, and connects writers and readers of all ages and stages through classes and literary events. Founded in 2014, The Porch was launched by two writers who longed for a space dedicated to the art and craft of the written word. Modeled on existing literary centers in cities such as Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and Denver, co-founders Susannah Felts and Katie McDougall saw an opportunity to serve the Nashville literary community of writers and readers like never before. Building on the rich literary traditions of the South, The Porch became part of Nashville's creative community ecosystem and diverse arts landscape.
Each year since, classes have increased in number and variety, with a steady rise in total registrations. Since 2014, The Porch has received a multitude of grants; secured a consistent and loyal donor catalog, developed an innovative youth arts curriculum; and forged outreach and artistic partnerships with local organizations, businesses, and academic institutions. The organization's annual event has brought to Nashville esteemed writers such as Lauren Groff, Jericho Brown, MacArthur Fellow Kiese Laymon, and most recently, US Poet Laureate Ada Limon. The Porch remains the only organization of its kind serving Nashville, and it is the largest literary arts organization in the Southeast.
Impact
During the 2023 fiscal year, The Porch served nearly 4,000 community members through 25 literary events and collaborations while providing over 150 workshops for adults and youth. Nearly 1000 Nashville youth were served at over 20 locations through writing workshops, camps, and collaborative programming.
Additionally, through our Writing in the Community, initiative, The Porch facilitated free bi-weekly creative writing workshops for 120 women in addiction recovery as well as therapeutic classes for over 200 unhoused LGBTQ+ teens. The Porch distributed over $7000 in scholarship and tuition assistance, and U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon headlined our annual Visiting Writers Series. Through our free Immigrants Write workshop, The Porch engaged over 55 immigrants and refugees from 24 countries. To date, The Porch employs 40 instructors for workshops and supports 40 authors, writers, and musicians for Porch events and collaborations.
As The Porch enters its tenth year, we are excited to amplify and expand our current impact. In addition to providing a unique ecosystem and community for writers at all stages of their careers, The Porch aims to strengthen our Writing in the Community umbrella. In our current therapeutic and expressive writing partnerships, we seek to increase impact through expanded collaborations with additional community partners that provide essential resources to Nashville's vulnerable populations; this includes men in addiction recovery, veterans, prisoners, teens in foster care, the homeless, and cancer patients and survivors.
Writing in the Community will also provide a new training cohort, titled Writing for Good, for writers who wish to learn the vital skills necessary to facilitate therapeutic and expressive writing workshops.
Additional goals for the coming year include:
• SWING magazine, a bi-annual literary publication
• Literary events featuring award-winning writers, including Ross Gay and Maurice Ruffin
• Editorial & coaching services
• Writing retreats
• Diverse and inclusive affinity writing groups
Needs
• Growth in our donor and membership base
• Funding and/or partnerships toward permanent real estate for Porch headquarters
• General operating support
• Corporate backing for our annual sponsorship and patronage program
• Funding to support Porch literary journal, SWING
• Funding, ongoing to support our Youth programs
• Funding, ongoing to bring top-tier literary talent to Nashville for our Visiting Writers program
• Funding to provide cash awards for Porch Prize winners
CEO Statement
This endeavor began out of a love for the written word and the writing life, and with this spirit at its core, The Porch has filled a niche in Nashville's creative culture and has become part of the fabric of our city's rich cultural identity. We consistently hear from local writers and publishing professionals that what we're doing is sorely needed in Nashville. After all, a literary life in the present means a future literary heritage.
We're also firmly dedicated to creative writing as an outreach tool. Its benefits and applications are many, from a way to build communication skills, self-esteem, and critical thinking to a means of empowering marginalized groups. The Porch believes in the power of the written word as a means to empathy, connectivity, creativity, knowledge, and advancement. We believe the world needs writers. There are so many voices, so many stories, so many perspectives, and literature in all its varied forms is one of the oldest, most powerful channels of building empathy into experiences outside of our own.
Writers understand perhaps better than anyone else the primacy of story and the incredible power and agency that comes with knowing how to wield words. In a world in which reading is at risk and the literary arts are in battle with twenty-first century distractions, fostering the art of writing is vital.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Arts, Culture & Humanities - Arts & Culture |
| Secondary Category: | Education - Adult Education |
| Tertiary Category: | Education - Secondary & High Schools |
Areas Served
While we are located in Davidson County, workshop participants have come from a number of locations. Post COVID, our virtual workshops have served participants from 35 different states and 24 different countries.
| TN - Davidson |
