Dian Souza at the Ventura County Poetry Festival March 8, 2025.

Poetry in the Gallery

 

Studio Channel Islands Arts Center is proud to serve as an intersection of art forms and be a central space for the Ventura County poetry community.

Our flagship series, Poetry in the Gallery, began in October of 2023 and runs once per month on a Saturday, with summer (June and July) and winter (December and January) breaks. This event showcases invited guest readers of regional, national and international reputation along with offering our local poets opportunities to perform as part of the open reading. Previous featured poets of Poetry in the Gallery have included Jasmine Gardosi (former Birmingham Poet Laureate and UK-based performance artist), Mary Ann McFadden (fourth Ventura County Poet Laureate), George Yatchisin (eleventh Santa Barbara Poet Laureate), Marsha de la O (published by Pitt Poetry and poetry lecturer at CSU Channel Islands), Nathan Hassall (fifth Malibu Poet Laureate) and Mary Kay Rummel (first Ventura County Poet Laureate). The producer and host of Poetry in the Gallery is Sean Colletti.

We are also the home of the annual Ventura County Poetry Festival, a collaboration with the Ventura County Poetry Project. The festival began in 2024 and acts as a centralizing event for the literary community of our region, programming workshops, outstanding reading events, presentations, competitions (one for poetry on the page and a live slam), access to publications from local and featured poets and open reading opportunities for attendees. Previous headliners of the festival have included Tim Seibles, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Luke Kennard, Jennifer L. Knox, Jasmine Gardosi, Dian Souza, Michael Torres, Florence Weinberger and Mary Ann McFadden. The current festival committee is Sean Colletti, Marsha de la O, Phil Taggart, Ron Fullerton, Lyz Merola, Caleigh Tupy and Friday Gretchen Treur.

As part of SCIART’s Emergence exhibition, there is a poetry competition open to any unpublished poets. Shortlisted poets are featured in a printed anthology and invited to perform as part of a showcase during the February edition of Poetry in the Gallery, with monetary prizes awarded to the top three poems selected by a judge, including the first-place Leon Priestnall Poetry Prize. The previous winners of the competition are Lyz Merola (2024) and Felice Alexandra (2025).

In 2025, we initiated a special June poetry event, which featured California Poet Laureate, Lee Herrick, and will become a recurring part of our poetry offerings. Poetry readings and workshops are also often featured at other SCIART events, such as the Art Bash fundraiser. Be sure to sign up to our newsletter to stay up-to-date with all of our events.

If you have any questions related to our poetry program, please contact our Events Coordinator, Sean Colletti, at sean[at]studiochannelislands.org.

 

Upcoming

26marAll Day29SCIART Member benefit Ventura County Poetry Festival

01apr6:30 pm8:00 pmFree Event Writers in the Galleryfirst Wednesday of the month

06may6:30 pm8:00 pmFree Event Writers in the Galleryfirst Wednesday of the month

03jun6:30 pm8:00 pmFree Event Writers in the Galleryfirst Wednesday of the month

Previous

21feb3:00 pmSCIART Member benefit Poetry in the GalleryEmergence 2026

04feb6:30 pm8:00 pmFree Event Writers in the Galleryfirst Wednesday of the month

04mar6:30 pm8:00 pmFree Event Writers in the Galleryfirst Wednesday of the month

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