Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry
/OVERVIEW: The Witter Bynner Foundation supports the writing and translation of poetry, as well as projects that bring poetry to new audiences.
IP TAKE: The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry’s’s poetry grants are modest, but this is an accessible source of funding for translation projects and programs that bring poetry to new audiences, vulnerable people or therapeutic settings. Small organizations number significantly here, as do organizations that serve communities in the foundation’s home state of New Mexico. Letters of intent are accepted form July to December, and full proposals are accepted by invitation. Reach out with questions via email.
PROFILE: During his life, Witter Bynner was a poet and professor of writing. He is described as a “versatile man of letters, whose whole working career was given to the act of literature.” The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry, established in 1972, “perpetuates the art of poetry” and “promotes poetry in American culture” through grantmaking that “expand[s] awareness of the positive effects of poetry on society. The foundation awards grants through four grant categories: Individual Poets, Translation and the Process of Translation, Developing the Poetry Audience, and Uses of Poetry. The Witter Bynner Foundation also names one or two Santa Fe Youth Poets Laureate each year.
Grants for Creative Writing, Arts and Culture and Humanities Research
The Witter Bynner Foundation’s grant programs focus on poetry, but grantmaking also supports overlapping areas of translation-related research and the use of poetry in wellness, mental health, education and community arts and culture programs.
Grants for Individual Poets provide support to writers of poetry “working through schools, museums, presses or other tax-exempt organizations.”
Grants for Translation and the Process of Translation focus on translating “poetry from languages not currently available to English readers and poetry which has not been translated or merits a new translation.” The program also offers to support to projects that “explore the art and the process of translation.”
Witter Bynner also supports projects aimed at Developing the Poetry Audience. These grants support a broad range of organizations and projects that work to expand the reach of poetry to specific communities of people. Grants have supported projects including documentary films, educational programs, readings, conferences and more.
Through its Uses of Poetry grantmaking area, the foundation funds “[p]rograms that use poetry for the greater public good.” In this area, the foundation prioritizes programs and initiatives that “can be transferred to and used by other organizations.” Examples include programs that involve poetry with at-risk youth, as well as incarcerated, disabled or marginalized people. The program has also supported educational programs and film productions that involve poetry in some way.
The Santa Fe Youth Poet Laureate program has named one or two poets laureates each year since 2019. The program appears to accept submissions from young poets for this program beginning in February, but at this writing, the program page does not offer further guidelines. Check back for updates.
Past grantees include the Santa Fe International Literary Festival, Pocomoke High School in Maryland, Archipelago Books, Teatro Paraguas and the Native American Creative Residency at Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, Colorado.
Important Grant Details:
The Witter Bynner Foundation’s grants range from $1,000 to $10,000.
While this funder does not name geographic priorities, many grants stay in the foundation’s home state of New Mexico.
This funder tends to support small- to medium-sized organizations involved in poetry.
To apply, review the application guidelines and submit a letter of intent to the foundation between July 15 and December 15. Invitations to submit full proposals are usually made in the first week of January, with a due date of February 15.
For additional information about past grants, see the foundation’s Grant Recipients page.
Submit questions to this foundation via email at witterb123@gmail.com or by telephone at (505) 699-5178.
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