Help save poetry company Secret Midnight Press

 

 

 

If you’re familiar with Secret Midnight Press, you’ve either been a part of our wonderful community or heard stories of the loving atmosphere at our events both in-person and online.

A quick rundown if you didn't watch the video above:

Secret Midnight Press was born from a dream shared by two childhood best friends. 

SMP launched in 2016 with the publication of Jesse Cale and Ashley Dun’s debut poetry collections, opening a door of vulnerability that many would walk through to find a safe and loving community that shared the same notions of the heart.

The following year SMP started holding events and live performances where the online community that was forming around SMP started to meet face to face. It was incredible. It was powerful.

In 2019 Secret Midnight Press started hosting open mics in Columbus, OH, inviting poets to share their hearts and try their hand at performance in a safe and loving atmosphere. 2019 was also the year of their largest poetry festival to date - year number 3 of Atlas Black featuring Atticus, art from Noor Unnahar, and more.

 

In March 2020, Ashley and Jesse were preparing to start a series of monthly open-mics called Secret Midnight Place that would occur in various locations around the world on the same night each month.

The week before the first events was when the world locked down.

The trauma of the compounding global crisis was taking its toll on the mental health of everyone around the world, including Jesse and Ashley.

Secret Midnight Press was put on hold while Jesse and Ashley tended to their own needs in a time of crisis.

Jesse began facing some serious cognitive health issues in 2021, which prevented him from working for most of the year.

By the end of 2021, the bank was calling every day and our social accounts had gone dormant. 

 

In March 2022, we held our first in-person event. It was exactly two years since our last event was scheduled and canceled. It seemed symbolic. The night was beautiful, and the turnout was incredible. The emotion in the air was so strong you could bottle it up for the world to feel. Many fingers snapped to the poems as tears were shed. It felt like coming home. Immediately after the event, Jesse set out to find a new home for open-mics to bring life back to something that was not just precious to he and Ashley, but to everyone that had been a part of the Secret Midnight Press family during the last five and a half years.

 

We’d like to ask for your help, love, and support to save Secret Midnight Press.

 

$12k will go towards paying off the previous debt of the company.

(Initially 22k, but negotiated down to 12k with debt collections agency)

 

$2k will go towards 5 months of operating at $400 a month.

($200 for open-mic rental space, $65 for software licenses for book layouts and social media content, $35 for website hosting, $80 for our newsletter provider, $20 to go towards mailing supplies and other smaller charges like printing flyers for open-mics)

 

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO HELP:

 

1.

Donate here and send this fundraiser to a friend/family member.

 

2. or buy from SMP normally. Purchase the Tote or Box from our  website (or any product to help us clear out our stock - most items left over after the campaign will be donated). 

 

These are the last runs of most of the items, so get them while they're available if you don't want to miss the chance.