The New Year brings with it reflection on the past and anticipation for the future. As we welcome what’s ahead, we also take the time to both acknowledge and celebrate the organization’s 2018 achievements.

At the top of the year, Cave Canem was named a recipient of Brooklyn Community Foundation’s second annual Spark Prize, a distinction that includes a grant award of $100,000. The prize was awarded to five Brooklyn-based organizations committed to equity and racial justice. As the largest single-year grant in Cave Canem’s history, this was a distinguished and impactful honor.

The organization also received generous awards from the New York Community Trust and LitTAP. Support from the New York Community Trust will enable a smooth migration of the organization’s internal databases to the Cloud, while funds from LitTAP will allow Cave Canem to outfit the office with new technology.

Cave Canem elected Kelly Davis and Allen A. Drexel, Esq. to its Board of Directors, and welcomed Zora Howard as the organization’s new Development/Administrative Assistant. Additionally, our working fellowship program for aspiring arts professionals expanded to include monthly lunch meetings with administrators in the field.

As a founding member of the Poetry Coalition, Cave Canem joined a host of cultural organizations across the country in March to present programs on the theme “Where My Dreaming and My Loving Live: Poetry & the Body.” Fellows and faculty were invited to submit a poetic line inspired by the body for inclusion in what ultimately became Cave Canem’s Fellows & Faculty Exquisite Corpse. In tandem, Cave Canem hosted its first-ever open mic. Emceed by fellow t’ai freedom ford, participants were encouraged to read work inspired by the body.

Cave Canem’s Anti-Oppression Series, inaugurated in 2017 with the organization’s first-ever anti-racism workshop, offers workshops that encourage conversations that challenge institutional oppression. In 2018, the series continued with licensed psychologist Dr. Nicole Jackson, who facilitated the much-anticipated workshop: “Self-care, Vulnerability and Resilience: Disarming Intersectional Microaggressions.”

In partnership with the Brooklyn Museum, Cave Canem expanded its Cave Canem at the Brooklyn Museum series to include readings every month from October 2018 through February 2019. (Join us Saturday, January 5, 7:30pm as Cave Canem fellows S. Erin Batiste, Ama Codjoe and Kyla Marshell read in celebration of new beginnings and social justice advocacy!)

Thanks to all of our fellows, faculty and friends for making 2018 another incredible year!