When searching for Los Angeles poets on the World Wide Web, or on youtube, more than likely you will find more than you expected. Los angeles Poets have been chronicled diligently and devotedly by the Poetry.LA, the video showcase of poets and venues.
The Los Angeles Poetry Examiner became quite aware of Poetry.LA in researching the profiles of Los Angeles Poets, as every time the search was on for video or film on each subject, there was, and is, always footage. And the footage was, and is, almost 90% the work of Poetry.LA and it's maverick founders Hilda Weiss and Wayne Lindberg.
In seeking more information on this pro-active and dynamic duo, it became apparent that more must be known and accomplishments duly accredited to this team known as Poetry.LA
Hilda Weiss is a poet and Artistic Director of www.Poetry.LA, an online video showcase featuring established and emerging poets videotaped at various venues throughout Southern California. Over 270 poets are currently posted with more added each month. Wayne Lindberg is her essential partner.
You have a partner in Poetry.LA right?
Hilda: Yes. Wayne Lindberg and I are co-founders and partners in www.Poetry.LA
When did you start the chronicling of the Los Angeles Poetry scene?
Hilda: We started videotaping poets at venues and posting them to the website and to YouTube in February 2007. More recently we’ve also been posting the videos to the Poetry.LA Facebook page.
Did this happen as an idea or on an event or a series of events?
Hilda: You could say Poetry.LA started as an idea after a series of events. I was going to a lot of poetry readings, both to listen and to read, and Wayne came with me to many of them.
Wayne: At that time, YouTube was getting big on the Internet and it seemed like an obvious way to present these poets to a larger audience.
Approximately how many poets have you videoed?
Wayne: We’ve videoed 311 poets and posted 386 videos as of October 2010. On YouTube, we’ve had over 245,000 viewings of our videos. The number increases about 2000 per week.
Do you video poets exclusively or are there other art forms and artists you video?
Hilda: We’re focused on poetry so we video the poets and also interview people involved in poetry such as venue hosts, publishers and translators, most of whom are also poets.
Are the poets required to sign waivers?
Hilda: Yes. We always have a release form for each event. We also have a list of 4 ways to share your video with others. We’re very big on having poets promote their videos so they get more viewings.
Do you realize the importance of the LA Poets as an influence on the rest of the world?
Hilda: Yes. LA poets are performing and being published throughout the US and the world.
What are those marks of importance?
Wayne: I think diversity is a key contribution Southern Californian poets are making in terms of style, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, whatever. They are comfortable with variety and experimentation and like to mix it up.
What else do you have planned with the immense archives you now have in your possession? Wayne: We have a program at Beyond Baroque planned for April 2011 that will be a kind of retrospective and include clips from many of the poets that we’ve posted. But we don’t have plans to produce any kind of feature length documentary. That would be an expensive project to do correctly.
The Los Angeles Poetry Examiner has one thing to add... BRAVO Poetry.LA!!! Thanks for the memories!
www.Poetry.LA
Video showcase of Southern California poets & venues. Over 200 poet videos.
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