EVENTS
Event Accessibility Information: If there are technologies or services that would make any of our events more accessible for you or someone you know—for example large print materials, audio descriptions, or sign language interpretation—please let us know! You can drop us a line at RidgelinesLanguageArts@gmail.com. We are more than happy to provide these and other services upon request!
Upcoming Events
"A Poem in Our Eyes"
exhibition at Huntingdon County Library
January - April 2024
Drop in to Huntingdon County Library throughout the spring to enjoy poems written by residents of Centre Care Nursing Home’s memory care unit in response to visual artworks. Both the poems and the artworks will be on display, forming an exhibition that sets verbal and visual art in conversation, honors the imaginations of those living with memory loss, and challenges conventional notions of disability.
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Past Events
Visit with Ridgelines at the 2023 Alternative Christmas Fair, hosted by the UBBC in State College
Sunday, December 3rd from 10:30 - 2pm
We'd love to see you there! Donations are also accepted online December 3rd through 17th. We're grateful to the UBBC for providing this opportunity for our community to support local nonprofits during the giving season.
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Saturday, February 4th, 2023
The Practice of Poetry
with Shara McCallum
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Call for participants:
Blood Lines: a gathering to share stories, songs, poems, and other language arts about reproductive experiences
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learn more and sign up to participate here!
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'Witness as Study':
2022 Creative Writing Series at Rhoneymeade
with Carolyne Meehan
final workshop: September 18th, 1-4pm
A Poem in Our Eyes
Exhibition at Schlow Library
June 2022
Betsy Rodgers Allen Gallery, Schlow Library
State College, PA
Drop in to Schlow Library throughout the month of June to enjoy poems written by residents of Centre Care Nursing Home’s memory care unit in response to artworks by artists with ties to Centre County. Both the poems and the artworks will be on display, forming an exhibition that sets verbal and visual art in conversation, honors the imaginations of those living with memory loss, and challenges conventional notions of disability.
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'What the Gaps Reveal':
A workshop & reading with poet Julie Swarstad Johnson
Sunday, March 27th, 2022
workshop: 2-4pm
public reading: 6pm
at Eagle Iron Works & Curtin Village
251 Curtin Road, Howard, PA, 16841
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Writing History
A Roots & Blooms poetry workshop
with Shara McCallum
In honor of Black History & Women's History Months
Saturday, February 5th 2022 ~ 10am-12 noon, online
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4-Part Virtual Poetry Writing Workshop​with Ananda Lima
4 Thursday evenings in December, 2021
7 pm - 8:30 pm
December 2nd, 9th, 16th, & 23rd
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Ananda Lima poetry reading
At the Green Drake Gallery in Millheim, PA
Monday, Nov. 1st 2021, 7pm
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Join Ridgelines as we celebrate poet Ananda Lima's first book, Mother/Land, which focuses on the intersection of motherhood and immigration and its effects on a speaker’s relationship to place, others, and self. Combining English and Portuguese, these poems from the perspective of an immigrant mother of an American child create a complex picture of the beauty, danger, and parental love the speaker finds and the legacy she brings to her reluctant new motherland.
This event is part of our Roots & Blooms series.
A Creative Writing Workshop with Carolyne Meehan
at Rhoneymeade Arboretum & Sculpture Garden
Sunday, October 10th, 2021 ~ 1pm - 3:30 pm
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As part of our ROOTS & BLOOMS series, this workshop is for women, non-binary folks, and other gender-marginalized central Pennsylvanians
photo credit: Natahanee Winder
The Heartwork of Poetry
with Tanaya Winder
a digital workshop for women-identifying central Pennsylvanians
3 Wednesday evenings in April: April 7th, 14th, 21st, 2020,
7:30-8:30 PM
sliding scale registration fee, $0-$75 for the 3-workshop series
Each of us has a story and it is a story only we can tell. Using an Indigenous corn teaching metaphor you will learn that writing poetry is just like a corn plant growing – beginning with a seed of inspiration and grow into something beautiful. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at, if you’re just starting, curious, or have been writing for years, you’ll rediscover the power of poetry in this workshop.
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Tanaya Winder is an author, singer / songwriter, poet, motivational speaker and educator who comes from an intertribal lineage of Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Duckwater Shoshone Nations where she is an enrolled citizen. Tanaya’s performances and talks emphasize the importance of “heartwork” – the life path one is meant to follow by using his/her/their gifts and passions. She blends storytelling, singing, and spoken word to teach about different expressions of love (self love, intimate love, social love, community love, and universal love). Learn more at tanayawinder.com.
Being Heard: Poetry Reading and Booklet Release Party
Monday, Dec. 23rd, 2019, 2pm-3:30pm
Centre Crest Nursing Home
Rose Cafe
502 E. Howard St., Bellefonte, PA
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Join this autumn's Being Heard participants for a reading and celebration of their poems. Pick up a booklet or poetry poster, visit with the poets, and enjoy the fruits of our longest-running program! Since 2012 Being Heard has honored the voices and imaginations of Centre County's low-income older adults.
The 2019 Multicultural Unity Fair
Saturday, September 28th, 2019, noon-4
State College Borough Building
243 South Allen St, State College PA 16801
Join us again this year at the 2nd annual Multicultural Unity Fair! This vibrant event brings together many different community organizations, performing artists, food vendors, and more. Ridgelines looks forward to seeing you there--drop by our table and contribute to a collaborative poem that celebrates our community's diversity! This event is hosted by the Community Diversity Group, which brings diverse peoples together to cultivate inclusive, engaged communities.
"A Poem In Our Eyes" Exhibition at Schlow Library
June 2019
Betsy Rodgers Allen Gallery, Schlow Library
State College, PA
Drop in to Schlow Library throughout the month of June 2019 to enjoy poems written by residents of Centre Crest Nursing Home’s memory care unit in response to artworks by artists with ties to Centre County. Both the poems and the artworks will be on display, forming an exhibition that sets verbal and visual art in conversation, honors the imaginations of those living with memory loss, and challenges conventional notions of disability.
Nico Amador at the Bellefonte Art Museum
Friday, May 17th, 2019
7:30 PM
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Ridgelines Teaching Artist Nico Amador will give a reading of his poems as part of the 2018-2019 Out Loud reading series at the Bellefonte Art Museum. We’re delighted to welcome Nico to central PA for this reading, and also looking forward to welcoming him back at the end of June, when he’ll teach Poetry for the Future, an intensive summer poetry writing workshop for queer and trans youth.
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NICO AMADOR is a poet, community organizer and educator living in Vermont, by way of San Diego and Philadelphia. His chapbook, Flower Wars, was selected as the winner of the Anzaldúa Poetry Prize and was published by Newfound Press in 2017. He is a recent grant recipient from the Vermont Arts Council, an alumni of the Home School and Lambda Literary Foundation's Writers Retreat, and helped to found the Rogue Writing Workshop of Philadelphia, which provides workshop instruction with accomplished poets to those writing and learning outside of academic institutions.
May 7th & 8th, 2019
Ridgelines will participate for the first time this year in Centre Gives, the Centre Foundation's 36-hour online giving event starting at 8:00 am on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 and ending at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. Donations through Centre Gives not only qualify Ridgelines for a larger share of the $100,000 stretch pool, but also help us qualify for additional prize money. We hope you’ll go to https://centregives.org on May 7th or 8th and help to support our 2019 programs!
Write Poems with Ridgelines at the 1st Annual Centre County Multicultural Fair
Saturday Sept. 22nd, 2018
12:00PM-4:00PM
State College Borough Building
243 South Allen Street, State College, PA
Visit with Ridgelines at the 1st Annual Centre County Multicultural Fair! We'll be there all afternoon inviting fair-goers to write poems about themselves and their cultures, and we'll be creating a large collaborative poem featuring everyone's contributions.
G.C. Waldrep & Karla Kelsey Read from New Works: An Autumn Poetry Reading to Benefit Ridgelines
Saturday, Sept. 8th, 2018, 7:30 PM
The Workshop in Centre Hall
375 North Pennsylvania Ave, Centre Hall, PA
$10 suggested donation
BYOB
Come join us for an autumn evening of poetry and experimental prose, celebrating new books by poets G.C. Waldrep and Karla Kelsey. Enjoy a unique venue, and visit with our local literary community! All donations will go towards our 2019 programs.
A Poem in Our Eyes
May 2018 at the Bellefonte Art Museum
Friday, May 18, 2018, 6:00 PM: Celebration and Community Writing Event
Celebrate a unique verbal/visual collaboration between residents of Centre Crest Nursing Home's memory loss unit, local artists, and one of our teaching poets. This show will share the results of weekly sessions during which Centre Crest participants wrote collaborative poems in response to paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, and sculptures by Centre County artists.
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The last installment of the 2018 Out Loud reading series, 'A Poem in Our Eyes' will honor the imagination of those living with memory loss and challenge conventional notions of disability.
Write to Shine Dance Party
An Evening of Dancing to Benefit Storm Break Girls Group Home
The Makery, State College
Friday, May 11th, 8:30 PM to 11:30 PM
On Friday, May 11th, our friends-in-community-writing at Write to Shine are hosting a fundraiser dance party at The Makery in State College to support our summer programming at Storm Break girls' group home! We're happy to collaborate with Write to Shine to bring language arts to our region's youth shelter for young women. Join us for dancing, craft cocktails, and to honor the voices of new language artists.
Use Your Words!
East Penns Valley Library, Millheim
Saturday, April 21, 2018
11:00am - 3:00pm
Celebrate National Poetry Month with Ridgelines at the East Penns Valley Library in Millheim, PA. Join local poets to play with typewriters, contribute to a collective poem, make a Mother's Day card featuring a line of poetry, and take home broadsides from the Pennsylvania Center for the Book’s Public Poetry Project. Bring your own favorite poem to record in your own voice for Ridgelines' podcast series, Use Your Words!