Today we’d like to introduce you to EmmaLee Newman.
EmmaLee, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started Dirty Bay Poetry after my freshman year of college at Texas A&M University. I was inspired by a non-profit organization called Mic Check Poetry stationed in Bryan, Texas. In 2015, Baytown had not had a poetry group or at least one that made an impression since I was born there, so I took it upon myself to change that. Originally I reached out to a bunch of my high school friends to meet up on Sundays to write and discuss poetry, then we started attending and performing at Open Mic Nights in town at Cork Grinders on Thursday nights eventually working our way up to our own poetry night there every other week.
We attempted a few other local events like Free Markets, Nature Education fairs, The Promise Center art festivals, and more, but Open Mics is where we thrived most. Even after Cork Grinders closed in 2017 we still kept our eye open for places to perform. We found a bar called Deja Vu who was willing to host us. There we had hosted many Open Mic Night events and a charity event called Dirty Bay Art Festival where we had local bands perform and local artist sold and auctioned their art. A big part of our organization is supporting our local community, so we donated to an organization based in Highlands, Texas called Cameron Cares who support Suicide Prevention and feeds the homeless, and participate in Relay for Life.
More recently we have dedicated ourselves to educating the public on poetry. Our meetings often have a theme of subjects to focus on, like forms, literary devices, and writing styles, and we write and share. For the past 3 years, we have published local poet’s poems as a way to promote art within our community and show our community the talent we have here; the poet’s do not need to be part of the club to submit because the importance is the poetry itself. Our goal is to spread poetry in Baytown which we have accomplished, but now we want to continue growing and sustain the progress we have made in this oil town.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We have struggled with finding places to perform at in town. We are a pending non-profit organization who doesn’t make a lot of money, so we can’t rent spaces to perform at constantly. There is also the issue of censoring because performing at a bar you can say whatever, but performing at the library we have to keep it PG-13 which challenges the integrity of the poem a poet may potentially perform. Right now we do not have a space to perform, but we are still searching. People are slowly accepting our scene that we have created and have been more open to us performing in their spaces which is a long way from 3 years ago.
Another issue is getting our 501c3 non-profit status from the Texas State Secretary. Our name is very close to another organization, so when we first tried to register we were rejected because we did not have written permission from the owner of the business to use “Dirty Bay”. We’ve tried to schedule a time to meet the owner but every time it has fallen through. We do not wish to change our name because we have established a brand over the past 3 years and it stays true to our local feel because Baytown is known as “The Dirty Bay”. We are going to keep attempting to meet with the owner, but if not we will need to work with the Texas State Secretary on other options.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Dirty Bay Poetry – what should we know?
We have self-published a book every year since 2015 of poems that feature local poets and local artists work. With the exception of the publishing company, every effort that goes into the book was done by a local. We sold the books to go back into the organization and then hosted an Anthology Release Party showcasing the poet’s work and giving out personalized awards. This year we had 50 poets submit to the Anthology as compared to our first year where we had 15 poets submit.
In 2017 we hosted our first charity event called The Dirty Bay Art Festival put on by our then social officer Brooke Richard. We had local bands and acts like The Philosophers, Virgil Wolfe, and The Drafted perform while artists like Nikki Angelo, Morganne Dobbs, and Addison Brown sold and donated art to be auctioned. Profits from the show were all donated to Cameron Cares- a local organization for suicide prevention. It was by no means perfect, but it was one of the first events put on since Cork Grinders, a hub for local artist, closed. It brought the local art scene together and support the local business- Deja Vu.
Most of our members are between 18-28 and we did not have a place in our hometown to express ourselves through poetry and now we do. We are different because instead of just performing we set to educate the community through workshops, performance, and service. We have performed at a nursing home, community centers, parks, and service events in addition to taking our time to teach people about poetry as a way of expression and art. We focus on free verse and technical, journaling and form, haikus and elegies, all in hopes of spreading the joy of poetry. We also accept anyone into our organization at any writing level.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Taylor Pursley is my Vice President and he has been able to fill my shoes as I’m away at college. I run the organization from 2 hours away- setting up meetings, making agendas, contacting people- and he executes the things I’m unable to attend on top of running his own business. If he was not here Dirty Bay Poetry would not have grown as much as it has and would have probably died down after January of last year.
He has taken the time to educate himself in poetry so he could be a better teacher to our members as well. He’s also the enforcer of constitution-making sure things run smoothly and consistently throughout the organization that adds an extra level of sophistication and dependability to it. I’d like to thank Katrina Starling, former owner of Cork Grinders, who gave us our start. She did so much for the local art scene in Baytown and unfortunately, we did not do enough to give back to her.
She gave a spot for all ages to perform anything from music to comedy to poetry without having a designated sound. She truly represented Baytown with her business and gave Dirty Bay Poetry a night every other week to host our own Poetry Open Mic where we were lucky enough to meet other local poets.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://dirtybaypoetry.weebly.com
- Phone: 2819171970
- Email: dirtybaypoetry@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dirtybaypoetry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DirtyBayPoetry/
Image Credit:
Christopher Trahan of Christopher Trahan Photography
https://www.facebook.com/ChristopherTrahanPhotography/
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