Beyond Baroque

In 2022, Beyond Baroque launched the Amanda Gorman Future Voices Poetry Prize, which provided a total of $10,000 in scholarship and prize money to young, California-based poets of color in grades 9-12. We are excited to provide this opportunity once more in 2023 and are hoping to raise $7,000 through community support in order to provide expanded scholarships to college-bound poets. Help us support the next generation of poets by donating now! Once we reach our goal, Beyond Baroque will start taking applications for the Prize in April.

About the Amanda Gorman Future Voices Poetry Prize:

The Future Voices Poetry Prize is named for Amanda Gorman, the youngest presidential inaugural poet in American history and a Beyond Baroque alumna. As a teenager, Amanda began her development as a poet as a participant in the Beyond Baroque Student Poets’ Program, and later credited Beyond Baroque as the place “where a young poet found the love of her life.” In order to further her legacy and support student poets of color in their development, Beyond Baroque has established the Amanda Gorman Future Voices Poetry Prize to provide scholarship and prize money to California-based poets of color in grades 9-12. The Prize continues Beyond Baroque’s long history of nurturing some of California’s most prominent poets, including Wanda Coleman, Amy Gerstler, and Amanda Gorman herself.

About Beyond Baroque:

Founded in 1968, and housed in the original Venice City Hall building in Venice, California, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center is a nonprofit public space dedicated to cultivating new writing and expanding the public’s knowledge of poetry, fiction, literature, and art through cultural events and community interaction. The Center offers a diverse variety of literary and arts programming, including readings, workshops, art exhibits, and multimedia performances. The Center houses a bookstore with the largest collection of new poetry books on the westside of Los Angeles; the Mike Kelley Gallery, which specializes in language-focused visual art; and an extensive archive of small press publications. Over the years the Center’s programs have nurtured a series of seminal poets, writers, and artists, and have helped to create, grow, and sustain Los Angeles’ grassroots literary community.

About Amanda Gorman:

Amanda Gorman is the youngest Presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history. She is a committed advocate for the environment, racial equality, and gender justice. After graduating cum laude from Harvard University, she now lives in her hometown of Los Angeles. Amanda was one of 5 Variety Power of Women honorees and cover star, one of 3 cover stars for Glamour's Women of the Year, and one of TIME magazine’s Women of the Year. The special edition of her inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was published in March 2021. Her debut picture book, Change Sings, released in September 2021 and her poetry collection Call Us What We Carry in December 2021, all debuting at #1 on New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestsellers lists. In 2023, Call Us What We Carry was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.