One of the delights of my job as the Loft’s executive director is reading evaluations from the writers we serve. As an example, one of the Loft Mentor Series participants wrote,
“Last summer I was an academic hoping to learn to write from the heart and to create prose with imagination and art. Perhaps, I thought, I might even learn how fiction and creative nonfiction writers bring their work to a wider audience. I met all these goals and, more, I learned how to invent a story. I learned how to critique my work and that of others. I learned to edit and to polish. I became a professional writer. For all these gifts I thank you.”
From a teen writer we heard,
“I finally found people who understand my love of literature, and love it as much as I do!”
And finally, a six-year-old student let us know that,
“Ritters always make riting fun.”
I’m often amazed by the sheer volume of classes and programs produced by the Loft’s hard working and dedicated staff of 15 and 23 devoted Loft board of directors. This last year, the Loft celebrated its 35th anniversary, expanded almost every program, and consequently, broadened the reach of its mission to support individual writers, foster a writing community, and create an audience for literature. Here are some highlights:
Loft Homecoming
On June 3, 2010, we celebrated the Loft’s 35th anniversary by hosting a festive “homecoming” party and annual meeting at Open Book. More than 300 Loft members participated in a living Loft timeline, video interviews, and book-signings. A reunion of 60 former Loft board members including our founder, Marly Rusoff, was part of the homecoming. Without doubt, the evening’s highlight was Kate DiCamillo’s spellbinding reading from her essay in the just released Views from the Loft: A Portable Writer’s Workshop, (Milkweed Editions, 2010). Views From the Loft, officially released in September, 2010, is an anthology of 35 years of essays from the Loft’s publication, A View from the Loft.
Loft.org
In 2010, the Loft remained focused on expanding its resources online to help reach geographically isolated writers and readers. In addition to A View from the Loft, the The Loft's Writers’ Blockblog now offers regular original articles, essays, tips, and literary gossip. You can find videos of Loft events on YouTube and engage with other Loft writers in the lively world of social media. In FY10 Loft.org hosted more than 100,000 visitors from 421 Minnesota towns and cities. Visitors also came from every state in the union. Five percent of visits came from outside the United States from each of the six most populous continents.
Report on Loft Creative Writing Classes, Readings, Events, Awards and Other Services to Writers and Readers
The Loft’s Equilibrium Spoken Word Series (EQ) won the prestigious 2010 Nonprofit Award for Anti-Racism Initiative (award announced in the summer of 2010 – awarded in November 2010).
More than 4,400 writers ages six and up took one of 500 writing classes and free writing labs in FY10. The Loft hosted four weekend writing conferences, including new sold-out conferences for Mystery & Thriller Writing and Graphic Novel Writing. FY10 also saw a 40 percent increase over FY09 in Loft First Pages, free, one-hour writing labs at 28 Hennepin County branch libraries.
A heartfelt thank you to all the teaching artists that make Loft classes and conferences as beloved and successful as they are!
The Loft presented or copresented—with partners such as the Hennepin County Library Foundation, Graywolf Press, Coffee House Press, Milkweed Editions, International PEN, and Rain Taxi—readings and performances of the work of 218 writers and spoken word artists. Writers ranged from Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, Gene Yang, Charles Baxter, and CanarySing, to Marilyn Nelson, Tony Hoagland, Shannon Olson, and Gwen Griffin. A special thank you to Swati Avasthi and Heather Bouwman for their volunteer work in curating the Loft’s Second Story Reading Series.
The McKnight Artist Fellowships, The Loft Mentor Series funded by Jerome Foundation, the Career Initiative Award, and the Shabo Award all had their highest number of submissions to date.
In February, many Loft staff traveled to Denver to participate in the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)’s annual conference. The Loft’s long-time program director, Jerod Santek, serves on AWP’s Board of Directors as the representative of writers’ conferences and centers and several Loft staff sat on or moderated conference panels.
The Loft expanded the number of youth served in summer classes and started offering year-round classes to teens and youth. The Loft’s inkTank teen council provided one-on-one mentoring to a group of 15teens throughout the year with a culmination of a final reading at the Loft in June.
Financials and Support
Amidst economic downturn and all of this activity, the Loft balanced its budget for the 18th straight year. We are fortunate to have the support of many corporations as well as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Minnesota State Arts Board, but we are especially grateful to the Loft’s supporting members whose personal contributions play a crucial role in making the Loft’s mission a reality. See the list of Loft supporters.
Thanks and Departures
For many of us on staff, the hardest part of FY10 involved saying goodbye to longtime Loft staff members, Nancy Gaschott (17 years of Loft employment) and Bob Williams (27 years of Loft employment). Nancy and Bob helped build the Loft and played active roles in the Loft’s move to Open Book in 2000. We are all grateful to them and their long-term service to the literary arts.
Looking Forward – FY11
This is already proving to be an exciting year for the Loft. In the fall we piloted our first online class and plan to expand online offerings. Online classes are a great option for out-of-state and rural writers along with all the writers who long for Loft classes but need greater attendance flexibility.
After an austere few years due to the economic crisis, the Loft is looking forward to adding a few positions in FY11 to serve our expanding community of constituents—both online and in person.
We look forward to your input on how the Loft can better serve your writing and reading goals and wish you a bounty of pages and inspiration in the coming year.
Sincerely,
Jocelyn Hale Executive Director The Loft Literary Center
The Loft Literary Center’s service to writers and readers is made possible with the generous support of many. The list below includes supporting memberships, gifts and grants made from September 1, 2009 to August 31, 2010. The list of memberships, gifts, and grants for September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2011 will be published shortly. If you made a donation during this time and do not see your name, please accept our apologies for the inadvertent omission and call Tanner in the Development Office at 612-215-2597 or e-mail him at
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. Thank you for your support!
All tax exempt charitable organizations with an annual income of $25,000 or higher are required to file Form 990 with the IRS and make it available for public inspection.
One of the delights of my job as the Loft’s executive director is reading evaluations from the writers we serve. As an example, one of the Loft Mentor Series participants wrote,
