Belfast Poetry Festival has submitted the following statement:

It is with sadness that the steering committee of the Belfast Poetry Festival has made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s festival. Scheduled to take place October 16 and 17, 2020, the necessary safety protocols for gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic has made it impossible to put on the live event and it was decided that a virtual festival could not be achieved.

Please look for the Belfast Poetry Festival to return in 2021 and in the meantime visit belfastpoetry.com to view videos past festivals.

(Feb. 20, 2020) BELFAST — The 16th Annual Belfast Poetry Festival seeks teams of poets, performers, and artists for its annual juried presentation of original collaborative works featuring poetry combined with art in other mediums. The festival will be held Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17, in downtown Belfast.

Saturday night’s event is a major focus of the Festival and will feature the celebratory showcase of poetry combined with visual arts (painting, film, etc.), performance arts (music, dance, etc.), and artistic collaborations never before imagined or known. The work will be presented live in a multimedia hall with a performance stage, a sound system, and a large-scale projection screen for artwork.

Each collaborative team will have eight (8) minutes for presentation during the show. Collaborations by teams of more than two people are welcome and encouraged. The Belfast Poetry Festival is open to content of any kind and encourages the widest possible range of subject matter, tone, media, and style. The Festival prioritizes teams in which one or more members have a connection to Maine.

“We are committed to an inclusive roster of participants, and strongly encourage proposals from underrepresented voices,” said the Festival, in a news release.”

A celebrated and eclectic stalwart of the region’s arts and literary scene, the festival draws a devoted audience from across the state of Maine and beyond, according to the Festival. One of the few community-based, non-academic literary festivals in the country, the festival celebrates poetry and artistic possibility and is an inclusive and collaboration-driven event that gives poets, artists, and audience broad opportunity to make connections and discover possibilities for the arts beyond the expected.

To be considered for this year’s collaborative showcase, address submissions to belfastpoetryfestival@gmail.com by April 1. Embed poems in the email message text and send images and/or clips as attachments. Include
“2020 Submission” in the title of your email, and send:
-2-5 poems
-2-5 images of the collaborating artist’s work or audio or video material
-Short bios for each team member (75 words or less)

-Links to team members’ websites
-a brief written concept of your proposed poetry and arts collaboration
Submissions will be reviewed by the Festival Committee. The Festival suggests that you view more of the festival’s website to see past collaborations.

Selected participants will be notified in May.

The festival follows a three-year rotation policy and discourages applications involving participants in the previous two festival years.