The Loft Literary Center

File:Loft Literary Center lobby at Open Book, Minneapolis, August 2012.jpg

Entrance to the Loft in Open Book's Cowles Literary Commons

The Loft Literary Center is a nonprofit literary organization located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Incorporated in 1975, the Loft's stated mission is to advance the artistic development of writers, foster a thriving literary community, and inspire a passion for literature. The Loft is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive independent literary centers, and offers a variety of writing classes, conferences, grants, readings, writers' studios and other services to both established and emerging writers.

Each year the Loft engages more than 3,000 beginning, intermediate, and advanced writers in learning opportunities, hosts more than 400 writers and performers that draw more than 12,000 people, and collaborates with at least 30 local and national organizations to enrich the literary environment. The Loft additionally connects with more than 170,000 unique visitors through digital resources and online writing classes that foster local, national, and international community engagement.

The Loft believes that the art of creative writing can be taught, and that the process of learning this discipline supports the artistic, emotional, and intellectual growth of every individual.

History

Inception

Incorporated in 1975, the Loft started in a bookstore when a group of writers decided to offer classes and readings in the upstairs loft. Following a series of successful events held at Rusoff & Co. Book Dealers in Dinkytown, Minnesota, bookstore owner Marly Rusoff and writers Jim Moore, Patricia Hampl, Phebe Hanson, and Michael Dennis Browne formed a ‘poets’ club’ with support from a fundraising party emceed by Garrison Keillor. This ‘poets’ club’ eventually became known as ‘The Loft,’ and in 1975 filed for nonprofit status and received a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to sponsor several writing workshops. Over the next two years, the Loft hosted a number of benefit readings that featured poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Robert Bly, and Etheridge Knight.

Continued growth

Over the years, the Loft grew organically as a community-based nonprofit to become one of the nation’s leading independent literary centers. With support from the Jerome Foundation the Loft launched the Mentor Series in 1980, bringing together nationally prominent authors with promising local writers. The first year featured New York Times bestselling author Marge Piercy and Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Philip Levine and Galway Kinnell. Other programs launched in the organization’s first decade include the McKnight Artist Fellowship in Creative Writing (1982), The Loft Scholarship Fund (1984), and a radio program in collaboration with Minnesota Public Radio (1985). In 1990, Loft membership passed the 2,000 mark, and in 1996 the Loft awarded more than $160,000 in grants to writers.

Social engagement

The Loft initiated the Amnesty Action Project in 1988, which coordinated letter-writing campaigns on behalf of imprisoned writers as identified by Amnesty International. Prominent Malawian poet Jack Mapanje was the first, followed by political prisoners Jaki Seroke, Zwelakhe Sisulu, Nguyễn Chí Thiện, Dai Qing, Lee San-ha, and Bligesu Erenus. The following year, WCCO anchor Dave Moore read from Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses at the Loft in protest of Ayatollah Khomeini’s sentence of death on Rushdie. The reading was also a response from the Twin Cities Artistic Community Ad Hoc Committee in Protest of Censorship and Intimidation. In 1993, the Loft hosted a week-long series of events celebrating freedom of expression that coincided with National Banned Books Week. The events included a dialogue with Kathy Acker, Amiri Baraka, and Nat Hentoff; a reading and forum with Lorrie Moore and Mona Simpson; free speech read-ins; and performance art with J. Otis Powell and Patrick Scully at the Rogue Nightclub.

2000-present

In 1999, the Loft joined forces with Minnesota Center for Book Arts and publisher Milkweed Editions to build the nonprofit literary and book arts center Open Book, which opened in May 2000 and is the current home of the Loft. This move was followed by the launch of the Loft Equilibrium Spoken Word Series in 2002, which was recognized with the Minnesota Nonprofit Anti-Racism Initiative Award. In 2004, the Loft hosted a reading by former senator and anti-war presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, and collaborated with the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and Minnesota International Center to host a discussion and book signing by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

In 2010, the Loft celebrated its 35th anniversary with the publication release of Views from the Loft: A Portable Writer's Workshop and the launch of its online education program.

The Loft now has an annual budget of over $2.4 million, and through contracts, awards, and grants pays writers more than $400,000 each year. The Loft annually serves thousands of writers by offering hundreds of classes, numerous fellowships, readings from award-winning authors, and literary resources such as a small library, writing studios, and a book club room. In 2013, the Loft hired 227 writers to teach 323 classes and 5 conferences. In their evaluations, 96% of students reported that their class helped them improve their writing, 91% identified their next steps as a writer, and 94% would recommend their class to others.

Jocelyn Hale has been Executive Director since 2007, when she replaced long-time leader Linda Myers.

Accessibility

The Loft is committed to making its programs and facilities accessible to everyone, and to improving opportunities for persons with physical disabilities. Through a 2013 ADA Access Improvement Grant administered by VSA Minnesota for the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the Loft now provides ASL interpreters to students and audiences, Braille or large type programs for readings, and sound amplification systems for each of the Loft’s classrooms. Other assistive listening technology and accessibility services at the Loft are supported, in part, by the Rachel Vaughan Memorial Fund.

Educational Programming, Events, and Awards

The Loft believes that writing can be improved through practice, dedication, and skilled teaching and mentorship. The organization seeks to recognize and encourage diversity, pluralism, and inclusion in its membership and in all of its programs.

Programs

• Online and in-person writing classes for youth and adult students
• First Pages Labs, offered in collaboration with Hennepin County Library
• Manuscript Critique and Coaching
• Children’s and Young Adult Literature Conference
• Master Mondays Advanced Classes
• School-Based Teaching Artist in Residence Program
• Professional Development Residencies
• Residencies in Partnership with Human Service Organizations
• Minnesota's Poetry Out Loud Competition

Events

• Talking Volumes, a partnership of the Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio, in collaboration with the Loft.
• Loft Mentor Series Readings
• McKnight Artist Fellowship Readings
• Publication Readings at the Loft
• Equilibrium: Spoken Word Series, which features writers of color and was named the 2010 Minnesota Nonprofit Award Winner for Anti-Racism Initiative
• Second Story Reading Series for young adult, middle-grade, and picture book authors

Grants, Awards, and Fellowships

• McKnight Artist Fellowships for Writers
• The Loft Mentor Series
• Minnesota Emerging Writers’ Grant
• The Loft Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship
• The Loft Inroads Mentoring Award
• Excellence in Teaching Fellowships, in collaboration with Madeline Island School for the Arts

Influential Collaborators

Thousands of writers both established and emerging have read, taught, mentored, and judged contests at the Loft since 1975. Their ranks include Margaret Atwood, Charles Baxter, Robert Bly, Billy Collins, Bernard Cooper, Toi Derricotte, Junot Diaz, Kate DiCamillo, Rita Dove, Louise Erdrich, Vince Flynn, Nikki Giovanni, Patricia Hampl, John Irving, Garrison Keillor, Stanley Kunitz, Mary Oliver, Michael Ondaatje, Tracy K. Smith, Patricia Smith, Quincy Troupe, and Li-Young Lee, among others.

Records

Records of the Loft Literary Center are housed at the Minnesota Historical Society and available for research use. They include bylaws and statement of purpose, minutes, correspondence, financial information, annual reports, information on classes and readings, class proposals, and membership data, among other files.

External links

• The Loft Literary Center
• The Loft on Twitter
• The Loft on Facebook
• The Loft on Tumblr
• The Loft on Google+
• The Loft on Pinterest
• Views from the Loft
• Open Book