Cascadia Poetics LAB

CASCADIA POETICS LAB

is a nonprofit organization and vibrant community whose workshops, festivals, and opportunities for connection can open the door to transformative experiences.

Donate to Cascadia Poetics LAB

Celebrate Give Big 2025 by donating to Cascadia Poetics Lab! Cascadia Poetics Lab was established in 1993 by founding director Paul E. Nelson, and has provided poetic and bioregional programming to Seattle, the Cascadia bioregion and beyond for over 30 years with festivals, workshops, readings, publications, and podcasts featuring writers and cultural workers.

With ongoing federal budget cuts impacting funding for arts and humanities, nonprofit organizations like Cascadia Poetics Lab are growing increasingly more dependent on financial support from individual donors and our community. During such uncertain and fractured times for all, we must be hyperlocal in our dependence and support for our communities, and it is vital that we continue to foster artistic spaces outside of the digital realm and connect to the present moment so that creativity can flourish. In contrast to the closed-minded nature of the current federal government, Cascadia Poetics Lab utilizes an open poetics approach to open the doors to culture and foster spaces that are emotionally interesting, diverse, and inclusive. In the words of Founding Director Paul E. Nelson, Cascadia Poetics Lab is "reconnecting people to place and making that connection mythic through poetry."

However, our efforts to maintain and expand our programming are not cheap, and financial stability is a consistent struggle for arts and humanities nonprofits like ours. The Cascadia Poetics Lab board has been working tirelessly to establish and uphold a strategic plan in hopes of expanding our programming to more audiences and gathering funds for capacity building.

Donate to Become a Sponsor

$100

Founders Circle Member

Support our programming and receive early registration and lineup information for the 9th Cascadia Poetics Lab, along with an exclusive monthly newsletter featuring writing from our board members and collaborators.

$1000

Poetry Postcard Fest Sponsor

Poetry Postcard Fest sponsorships of $1,000 annually will receive a link to your business, book, or other personal projects on our website, and your logo will be represented in our weekly emails!

$2000

Cascadian Prophets Podcast Sponsor

Support our over 30-year history of interviews and broadcasting featuring prominent poets, artists, and cultural workers. With a donation at this level, we will include short promotions for your business or project in our podcast episodes.

$2000

Cascadia Poetry Festival Sponsor

Support our yearly multi-day gathering of poets and creatives from Cascadia and beyond!

CASCADIA POETICS LAB PROGRAMS & EVENTS

Learn More About Some of Our Key Projects

		The Cascadia Poetry Festival started in 2012 and is a regular gathering of poets and creatives with workshops and talks, hosted in the Cascadia Bioregion. We are excited to announce Cascadia Poetry Festival #9 October 10-12, 2025! Brenda Hillman and Robert Michael Pyle are two of our 2025 participating poets.
		Founded in 2007, The Poetry Postcard Fest is an annual 56 day experiment in spontaneity and community-building where poets send 31 first-draft poems on postcards to other participants around the world. Registration for PPF 2025 is open now!
		Cascadia 2050 is our newest youth initiative, created with the intent to establish a foundation for the next generation of artists, poets, and activists to express themselves openly and deepen connections to their self, place, and their surrounding communities. Cascadia 2050 extends the programming of CPL to poets under 40 and hopes to increase involvement in local schools
		The Cascadian Prophets Podcast was built upon the original work of Cascadia Poetics Lab's founder Paul Nelson as the foundation of Cascadia Poetics Lab. The Cascadian Prophets podcast produces in-depth interviews with poets, authors, educators, indigenous leaders, and other cultural workers, with a focus on promoting cultural activities toward sustaining the Cascadia bioregion, place, and presence.
		Kagean Ni & Cascadia Poets House We envision physical spaces for poets, artists, & bioregionalists to work on their craft & find community through our proposed Kagean Ni and Cascadia Poets House projects. Kagean Ni would be a retreat center in the Olympic Peninsula, while Cascadia Poets House would serve as low-income artist housing & studio space.
		Workshops Cascadia Poetics Lab hosts poetry workshops, available to the general community, with reading, writing and discussion exercises that intend on helping participants learn new techniques of expression and literary creativity while focusing on place and presence.
		Events Cascadia Poetics Lab hosts readings and gatherings in collaboration with partnering arts, culture, and bioregionalism organizations.