A Global Pandemic. The numbers are staggering. How do we get beyond the enormity of it all? How do we understand? How do we heal? How do we grow? By listening and learning. In March 2021, the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University and the University of Arizona Poetry Center launched the interactive website for the Global Vaccine Poem project, inviting anyone to share experiences of the pandemic and vaccination through poetry. Thousands of everyday people responded from India to Ireland, from Maine to Hawai’i. In the spring of 2022, an anthology of these poems, Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic, was published by The Kent State University Press. Now the conversation continues through unique theatrical event which premiered at the National Academy of Sciences. What We Learned While Alone: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic combines spoken word, music, movement, and direct digital dialogue to create an innovative interactive experience, culminating in a poem created in collaboration with performers and audience that celebrates who we are. Here. Now.
Registration requested. Register HERE.
This event is part of the 2023 Cleveland Humanities Festival: Wellness.
Click HERE to learn more about the performance.
Click HERE to visit the Global Vaccine Poem project website.