We couldn't have done it without you!

The first week of January is a great time to take stock of not only how far you have to go to achieve your dreams, but how far you have already come.  And although 2016 was a brutal year for many of us (on a whole host of levels), it was also a year when the generosity of the poetry slam community gave wings to this little non-profit dream-machine called P4.  

We've come so far since this time last year!  We've hired a part time Executive Director, developed this web site, catalogued more than 1600 items in our collection, and begun to lay the groundwork with scholars, academics, librarians, and web developers for the next stage of our evolution.  The work we did in 2016 was extensive, sometimes exhausting, and critical for laying the ground work for what will be coming in 2017.  Over the next year we hope to continue building our collection, begin a relationship with a repository partner institution, continue cataloging our materials, and make the entire collection searchable by the general public.  It's an exciting time, and we're thrilled to have you all joining us

The Board and Staff of P4 would like to take this moment to recognize all the people that donated to us during 2016.  Most of the people listed below are financial donors, but a good number also donated their time, their talents, their expertise, and in a few cases, boxes of materials, to the P4 effort.  We couldn't have done any of this without you, and you should all be proud that you've created the foundation for capturing and preserving the history of the poetry slam movement, for generations to come.  Our thanks this year goes out to:

Allison Durazzi
Ben Schwendener
Bob Holman
Bucky Sinister
Buddy Wakefield
Cristin Aptowicz
David Kaye
Douglas Lambert
Emily & Geoff Kagan Trenchard
Erica Charis
Gretchen Bouliane
Hank & Debbie Gentile
James Shepard
John S. Hall
Karen Garrabrant
Martha McConnell
Matt Kuhrt
Matt Mason
Paul Randall and Lin Dickerson
Rick Lupert
Robert E. Hanson
Taylor Mali
Thomas Bouliane
Tim Root
Wess Mongo Jolley

As well as several donors who have elected to remain anonymous.  

I also want to send out SPECIAL thanks to Taylor Mali and Buddy Wakefield, both of whom donated multiple copies of their CDs to use as premium gifts for donors.  They both donated enough to use for this campaign, and enough to make them available through 2017.  Thanks guys!

Thank you all for you love and support, and for reminding us here exactly what it means to be part of the slam family.  We're honored to be part of this community, and we look forward to working with you all through 2017.

Happy New Year!!!

--Wess Mongo Jolley, Executive Director
  mongo@poetrypreservation.org
  The Performance Poetry Preservation Project
  http://poetrypreservation.org