Margaret Chew Barringer
Encyclopedia
Margaret Chew Barringer founded the American Poetry Center
in 1983 as a statewide nonprofit organization
that brought storytelling and The Spoken Word to a wide range of audiences across Pennsylvania. The organization sponsored readings, classes and symposia in Philadelphia and coordinated all literary events for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
, providing a statewide model for the creation of National Poetry Month
. Barringer is an American poet and filmmaker born in 1946. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies in America
and Russia
.
Under Barringer's management, the American Poetry Center initiated a seven-year cultural exchange with the USSR Union of Writers
. The Center also hosted a series of annual symposia that brought poets and writers from around the world to Philadelphia and attracted national and international media attention. In addition to creating a statewide hotline for literary events in Pennsylvania, Barringer also united the Pennsylvania library and school systems in a statewide poetry contest for all schoolchildren. Theatrical events that featured the winning young poets accompanied this annual contest, and brought to the stage corporate CEOs, government officials, artists, scholars, reporters, and media moguls, to recite their favorite poems.
In 2005, the organization changed its name to American INSIGHT
as it prepared to reach new audiences through the latest advances in all-digital historic archival research, video production techniques, and Internet-based delivery systems.
Regional authors, educators, scholars, artists, and civic leaders have been featured in both long and short form historical documentaries about Philadelphia. American INSIGHT is staffed by university students from the Greater Philadelphia area.
After six years of sustained research into the historical origins of Free Speech, Barringer developed the concept of an Internet-based Free Speech Film Festival to acknowledge the ongoing personal and political need for respect, recognition and freedom worldwide. The Free Speech Film Festival is a program of American INSIGHT, an educational resource that has featured Free Speech and The Spoken Word for the past three decades.
Barringer is the chairman of American INSIGHT, and oversees all aspects of the organization and its Internship Program.
American Poetry Center
American Poetry Center was founded in 1983 to bring the Spoken Word to a wide range of audiences. All programs were created, developed and implemented by Margaret Chew Barringer, under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. For its first decade, Jerome J. Shestack, Esq. chaired the...
in 1983 as a statewide nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
that brought storytelling and The Spoken Word to a wide range of audiences across Pennsylvania. The organization sponsored readings, classes and symposia in Philadelphia and coordinated all literary events for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is an agency serving the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.Established in 1966, its mission is "to foster the excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts in Pennsylvania and to broaden the availability and appreciation of those arts throughout the state." Each year...
, providing a statewide model for the creation of National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry first introduced in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. It is celebrated every April in the United States and in Canada as well...
. Barringer is an American poet and filmmaker born in 1946. Her poems have appeared in journals and anthologies in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Under Barringer's management, the American Poetry Center initiated a seven-year cultural exchange with the USSR Union of Writers
USSR Union of Writers
The USSR Union of Writers, or Union of Soviet Writers was a creative union of professional writers in the USSR. It was founded in 1932 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party after disbanding a number of other writers' organizations: RAPP, Proletkult, and VOAPP.The aim of...
. The Center also hosted a series of annual symposia that brought poets and writers from around the world to Philadelphia and attracted national and international media attention. In addition to creating a statewide hotline for literary events in Pennsylvania, Barringer also united the Pennsylvania library and school systems in a statewide poetry contest for all schoolchildren. Theatrical events that featured the winning young poets accompanied this annual contest, and brought to the stage corporate CEOs, government officials, artists, scholars, reporters, and media moguls, to recite their favorite poems.
In 2005, the organization changed its name to American INSIGHT
American INSIGHT
American INSIGHT’s mission is to produce, promote, and distribute historical documentaries, and to broaden exposure to historical information through the use of emerging technologies...
as it prepared to reach new audiences through the latest advances in all-digital historic archival research, video production techniques, and Internet-based delivery systems.
Regional authors, educators, scholars, artists, and civic leaders have been featured in both long and short form historical documentaries about Philadelphia. American INSIGHT is staffed by university students from the Greater Philadelphia area.
After six years of sustained research into the historical origins of Free Speech, Barringer developed the concept of an Internet-based Free Speech Film Festival to acknowledge the ongoing personal and political need for respect, recognition and freedom worldwide. The Free Speech Film Festival is a program of American INSIGHT, an educational resource that has featured Free Speech and The Spoken Word for the past three decades.
Barringer is the chairman of American INSIGHT, and oversees all aspects of the organization and its Internship Program.