Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Poetry Foundation for the exhibition opening of A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center. We had a blast celebrating CPC’s 50th anniversary with friends and community members.
The exhibition features historic broadsides, event posters, and ephemera from throughout CPC’s 50 years. Photos and poems from school residencies, archival letters from iconic poets like Li-Young Lee, and even Henry the Robot from Queen Zee’s Poetic Adventures made an appearance!
The event included the debut of documentary “A Bigger Table” by Moyo Abiona on CPC’s first 50 years and ongoing legacy, and we enjoyed poetry by student poet Layla Abdullah and former Poet in Residence, Chicago musician and poet Marvin Tate. We heard Executive Director B. Metzger Sampson reflect on their time with CPC and share their hopes for its future. Helene Achanzar, CPC’s Director of Programs, closed out the program with a cento she created with lines from current CPC Poets in Residence, board, and staff. Event attendees took home broadsides of the cento, designed and printed in Evanston by artist Ben Blount.
As the event ended, we gathered in the courtyard and raised a glass to all that we’ve achieved in the last 50 years – and to 50 more years of the Chicago Poetry Center. Then we kept the party going with snacks, drinks, and snacks at Headquarters Beercade.
Visit A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center at the Poetry Foundation till September 14, and check out these photos from the opening event and afterparty:
