We often, when looking at great fundraising projects to contribute toward, have difficulty looking past all the big or glossy or high profile and sexy projects. I mean, there are just way too many things out there that deserve our attention and our time (and money) is way too finite.
But sometimes you come across something, someone, looking for funding for a simple and personal project that we should pause on. Artists. Writers. Activists. Who don’t have a product to sell, but who deserve a chance to change the world.
I saw this on the Facebook page of one of my favorite poets, Phillip B. Williams, and immediately knew it’s something worth all of our attention, even briefly, even we can’t pitch in more than a couple of dollars or more than just a bit of our time and amplification.
There is a wonderful young Latinx poet who needs help getting to the prestigious Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop at Oxford University.
From the GoFundMe page:
My name is Gabriel Ramirez and I’m a 22 year old poet who has just been accepted to the 2016 Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop at the University in Oxford, England! They never sent me my acceptance letter back in March. I checked my email April, 24th and Callaloo was asking for my registration fee and I was sitting there like: “How they asking me for money when I never got accepted?” So I call the Callaloo office in Texas, and they inform me that I had gotten accepted with everyone else on March, 24th but there was an error when sending my acceptance letter. In other words. to make this dream of going to Callaloo Oxford come true I need your help!
The deadline for Gabriel to lock in a spot is 5/4. The workshop runs from 6/10-6/16.
This is his breakdown of costs and where money raised will be going:
Registration – $300
Plane Tickets – $1,700
Passport – $140
Housing – $600
Food – $130
Travel – $130
Emergency – $500
Total- $3,500
First, let me say that I am grateful for all support whether you donate or share this link with someone who can. As a Afrolatinx identified poet I am always looking for spaces where my art can exist without explanation and in so doing, evolve. To be a part of the Callaloo workshop presents a great opportunity to be in a community with other POC poets which will help me hone my craft as I am working towards my first manuscript of poetry. Ultimately this experience will prove an invaluable source of community, safety and growth and I am eternally grateful to anyone who is willing to help me pursue this opportunity!
Help Gabriel get to Callaloo Oxford