I'm an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California, and I'm looking to found a small non-profit program to promote creative literature in schools beginning this January (2011). The non-profit, which has the working title 'Children of Calliope' or 'Calliope's Kids', would provide a platform, through print magazine and web, for students to publish a portion of their literary endeavors.
The aim of the program is to promote literacy and appreciation of creative writing in a society that increasingly minimalizes the arts, particularly literary arts, drawing upon the rich heritage of its students to create a cultural patchwork that centralizes on promoting and rewarding student creative work. Think of it as a K-12 literary journal in-training. The endeavor would also help to create communities of literary-minded students in schools where most student writers are not much more than isolated incidents and therefore turn to less safe resources, such as online internet communities, to find solidarity.
Children of Calliope aims to 'start small', providing one magazine every two months featuring selected pieces from students from schools of the Los Angeles School District. As awareness and funds increase, it will train students at individual schools to edit and produce their own magazines, thus not only creating a 'patch' to cover the problem of decreased literary involvement in schools but also fostering true opportunities to change the situation.
Please email me if you're interested in being a formative part of this new program! Sophomores and juniors preferred, though freshmen and seniors are definitely welcome.
Natalie A. Millman
nmillman@usc.edu
