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Lisa New
12/17/2017 7:18:33 PM
Jeffrey Epstein [jeeyacation@gmail.com]
thank you to friends of Poetry in America
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Importance: High
Dear Jeffrey: (and please see personal P.S. under my signature!)
I am writing now, as I have for the last several years, to update you on the work that Poetry in America and Verse Video Education have done in the
last year. Below, I detail the accomplishments of 2017 and, below that, some projects I hope to complete in 2018. But first: my deepest thanks to you
who have contributed financially, intellectually, creatively, and in so many other ways to Poetry in America's work.
Some of you receiving this letter have generously supported Verse Video Education, the independent non-profit production company (a 501c3) I
founded in 2015. Verse Video Education now partners with WGBH television as well as with Harvard University (and others) to make the highest
quality educational media for broad audiences. Whether you supported me by sharing your own interpretive talents on camera or by helping me to
land elusive talent; whether you provided me funding, or equipment, or business wisdom, or organizational advice,
or a space in which to film, or just plain interest in the work-- I am immensely grateful. Making media-- and especially television-- is complex, and
expensive, and I could not have navigated the road from professor to professor/producer/director without you.
Others of you have supported my humanities work at Harvard, and, in particular, Harvard's efforts to provide distance education of all kinds. Now
(along with partners at the Bok Center, HarvardX, the Graduate School of Education, and the Extension School), I produce educational content for a
wide global community of learners. Increasingly, Poetry in America not only distributes state-of-the-art humanities content within and beyond
Harvard's gates, but we also train, mentor, and support a growing number of Harvard undergraduates and graduate students with interests in
education, media, and the public humanities. These students now comprise a vibrant community of young Harvard humanists gaining experience in
online teaching, curriculum design, educational policy, international education, video production, video editing, and more. By supporting Poetry in
America, you
also support forward-looking humanities education at Harvard. (Update: those of you who are alumni of Harvard College are now eligible to receive
class credit for your donations to Poetry in America projects.)
It's thrilling for me to report that our two largest efforts of the last few years are both coming to fruition.
Poetry in America's 13-episode television series, along with its parallel PBS LeamingMedia Collection for educators, will air on PBS stations
nationwide beginning in April 2018. Click here for a sneak peek at our 90-second series trailer (password: Poetry90). Featuring such guest
interpreters as those in the trailer-- and dozens of others-- each half-hour episode of the series offers a deep dive into one important American poem.
Discussions on a second season have begun!
Meanwhile, our Harvard partners at the Extension School and the Graduate School of Education have agreed, for a limited time, to make the full
suite of Poetry in America online courses accessible to learners all over the world, offering a steep reduction in course fees. Students and teachers
worldwide can now take any Poetry in America course-- at any credit level-- for $200. (Take a look at our 2018 offerings here.) Those of you who
support individual schools or school networks: please note that through 2018 groups of five teachers or students can take any Poetry in America
course for $1000 and receive graduate, undergraduate, or professional development credit-- and, that group's facilitator can receive free tuition.
Please feel free to distribute our offerings to educators whose work you support anywhere in the world.
Harvard's highly unusual decision to slash tuition for the next year follows the great success of Poetry in America's first course for educators--
Poetry in America for Teachers: The City from Whitman to Hip Hop. In recognition of this course, David Coleman (president of the College Board)
has offered support to allow us to continue developing and providing access to the highest quality educational and professional development
humanities content. In 2018, as I lay out below, we seek to expand the scope of our offerings, and to work with our many partners to broaden access
to all learners.
Thank you for your support for this work, and warmest best to you all in this holiday season.
Sincerely,
Lisa
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P.S. and thank you so much, Jeffrey, for your amazing support, without which much of what I've managed in the last few years would never have
happened. My next course for teachers„ as you'll notice, has shifted from art to environment--not because of any less passion on my part for arts
content but really because of greater enthusiasm among others for poetry/science for the classroom. I would like to hear more from you about what
you think kids/schools need in this area. Larry tells me you have views; as I move out of my central areas, I will need advice xxoolisa
R Y
E REC A
Poetry in America is now raising funds to complete an exciting group of new projects. Those in the pipeline include:
The Poetry of Earth, Sea and Sky
With commitments now in from the Poetry Foundation, Harvard's Center for the Environment, NextGen Climate, Nautilus Magazine, and more,
Poetry in America is now embarking on the development of our second course specifically for teachers: Poetry in America for Teachers: The Poetry
of Earth, Sea and Sky. This course will offer teachers innovative ways to blend humanities and science instruction and will provide them with
classroom-ready materials. Via our partnership with the Bok Center, Harvard College and GSAS students will have the opportunity to build content,
and skills, as they craft media, curriculum, and digital architecture for this second Poetry in America course for teachers.
Medicine and Media
In partnership with Harvard-trained physician and ER creator Neal Baer, poet-physician Rafael Campo, the Arts and Literature Initiative of Harvard
Medical School, and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard, Poetry in America will develop media around humane
communication for medical practitioners and students. Our initial collection of content will focus on breast cancer health and LGBTQ health, and this
project will provide the opportunity for students at Harvard Medical School and in the college to explore deeper registers of communication on vital
matters of health. Content developed for this project has the potential to become a television episode.
Poetry in America for Chinese Learners
With seed funding from a Harvard graduate, Poetry in America is now developing content in a variety of formats (for-credit courses as well as short-
form video assets to stream on internet platforms) for Chinese learners. Content will aim to offer new modes of humanities instruction to a broad
global audience. We hope to expand our offerings beyond poetry to include other content in the humanities, including material on Shakespeare and
World Literature.
Poetry in America: the Television Series (Season 2)
Plans for Season 2 are developing, and we hope to embark on a second season as soon as funds allow. On-camera interpreters already filmed or ready
to film with us include Katie Couric, Yang Lan, Billy Collins, Julie Taymor, Yusef Komunyakaa, Eve Ensler, Ray Dalio, Kay Redfield Jamison,
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Al Gore, Jorie Graham, Maurice Clarett, Jason Collins, Neal Baer, Danielle Ofri, Tom Steyer, and many others.
Elisa New
Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature
Harvard University
148 Barker Center
12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA
02138
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