“Poetry remakes the future… you write into the future, and then somehow the future does catch up with what you’ve written.” – Alice Notley

As we wrap up another year in a present insistent on being remade, we need your support to provide the tools poets need to take up their work.

It’s a tumultuous time for poetry and the arts. From the headline grabbing cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts, to censorship by threat of firing or deportation, to the loss of teaching jobs and financial aid in academia, to the trickle down effects that lead to the loss of foundational and individual donors as they rush to save the larger institutions—it’s never been harder to be a community-based arts organization, and it’s never been more essential. But we know we can move forward with the support of our community.

In the past year, we held to our mission of cultivating community and craft for all, especially those marginalized by traditional literary and academic structures, by providing more workshops, fellowships, events and free community programming than ever before. Thanks to the support of our community we were able to offer:

80 workshops serving 678 students from all backgrounds, from first time writers to college students to poets with published collections to retirees returning to their love of writing after a lifetime away.
55 fellowships enabling promising students to enroll is a workshop aligned with their writing goals and background free of charge. We also offered partial fellowship awards to 60 finalists.
70 events serving over 3,500 attendees, including our monthly Yawp & Friday Night Open, Reading Series, book launches, showcases and benefit readings.
Our third annual 3-day poetry festival featuring 25 poets, including Cathy Linh Che, Chen Chen and Mahogany L. Browne.
Our fifth Mentorship Program cohort, a yearlong program that provides 12 writers with sustained, individualized mentorship as a financially accessible alternative to an MFA.
Free community programming serving over 800 participants in our space at 144 Montague and (newly) online.
205 paid reading & teaching opportunities for poets at all stages of their career.

To support this work in 2026, we’re raising $80,000 and we need your help to get there. As Audre Lorde said, “Poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action.” Poetry can’t solve everything, but it’s vital that poets have spaces like Brooklyn Poets to language the present and remake the future. Donate now to help us remake the future, today.

You can learn more about our impact here. You can also support our work by attending our Awards Gala honoring Patricia Smith on December 7, get tickets here.

Here's what your donation could support:

$100 will enable a poet to attend a three-hour craft lab for free

$250 will cover the cost of a free and open to the public writing group

$500 will cover the cost of a fellowship, enabling a promising poet to attend a workshop for free

$1,000 will cover the cost of a week’s worth of free community groups

$2,500 will cover financial aid for one student in our Mentorship Program

$5,000 will provide essential operating support allowing us to continue building programs to keep poetry & community accessible

Donor perks:

$100+ donation

Acknowledgement on our website (if desired)

$250+ donation

A complimentary 1-year membership
A Brooklyn Poets tote bag
Acknowledgement on our website (if desired)

$500+ donation

A seat at our annual Awards Gala
- Please donate through our gala ticketing page if you would like to attend our 2025 Awards Gala
A complimentary 1-year membership
A Brooklyn Poets tote bag
Acknowledgement on our gala program (if desired, donation must occur before 11/15)
Acknowledgement on our website (if desired)

$1,000+ donation

Two VIP seats together at our annual Awards Gala
- Please donate through our gala ticketing page if you would like to attend our 2025 Awards Gala
A complimentary 1-year membership
A Brooklyn Poets tote bag
Acknowledgement on our gala program (if desired, donation must occur before 11/15)
Acknowledgement on our website (if desired)

$2,500+ donation

Four VIP seats together at our annual Awards Gala
- Please donate through our gala ticketing page if you would like to attend our 2025 Awards Gala
A recently published book by a Brooklyn Poets fellow or community member
A complimentary 1-year membership
A Brooklyn Poets tote bag
Public recognition at our gala (if desired)
Acknowledgement on our gala program (if desired, donation must occur before 11/15)
Acknowledgement on our website (if desired)

$5,000+ donation

A VIP table (up to 8 seats) at our annual Awards Gala
- Please donate through our gala ticketing page if you would like to attend our 2025 Awards Gala
Two recently published books by Brooklyn Poets fellows and community members
A complimentary 1-year membership
A Brooklyn Poets tote bag
Public recognition at our gala (if desired)
Acknowledgement on our gala program (if desired, donation must occur before 11/15)
Acknowledgement on our website (if desired)

$10,000+ donation

A VIP table (up to 8 seats) at our annual Awards Gala
- Please donate through our gala ticketing page if you would like to attend our 2025 Awards Gala
Four recently published books by Brooklyn Poets fellows and community members
A complimentary 1-year membership
A Brooklyn Poets tote bag
Public recognition at our gala (if desired)
Acknowledgement on our gala program (if desired, donation must occur before 11/15)
Acknowledgement on our website (if desired)

Tara Skurtu: 1 hour consult