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About Casa Libre

| Mission & Name | Casa's Keepers |
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Mission

The mission of Casa Libre en la Solana is to cultivate and enrich a vibrant community of writers and artists through the invention, presentation, and appreciation of creative work.

In accordance with this mission Casa Libre will:

  • Provide a venue for classes, residencies, readings and workshops;
  • Provide opportunities to artists by offering the resources and support they need to make their artistic dreams a reality;
  • Offer space for other community events related to arts and letters.

Vision
Because we believe expression is a vital part of nourishing the human spirit, Casa Libre inspires writers and artists to take risks and manifest their artistic dreams.

Our Name
Casa, of course, is house or home. Libre, so close to Libro (or book), means free, and en la Solana = in the sun (or sun room, as in Solarium). So, roughly translated from modern day Spanish, Casa Libre en la Solana means Free House in the Sun.

What We Do
The mission of Casa Libre en la Solana, since its inception, has been to support and enhance the creativity of professional and novice writers by providing a community venue for classes, readings, and other professional development opportunities. As a community venue, Casa Libre holds creative writing workshops and reading/performance series, including, Edge: a Reading Series of Emerging and Younger Writers, which has been in existence for two years. Among the other jewels in our desert crown, Casa hosts Trickhouse Live! (collaboration with the on-line journal Trickhouse), the Lamplight Reading Series, Made for Flight (a Transgender youth and ally empowerment workshop series), University of Arizona’s MFA program’s monthly Works-In-Progress readings, The Curiosity Symposium, and a variety of collaborative hybrid workshops, book release events, and film screenings.

Year-round residency opportunities were once the core of Casa Libre's programming; however, due to economic constraints, these residencies have become semi-annual, hybrid residencies where visiting authors are hosted in off-site, local venues. Among the previous residents and guests who have stayed at Casa Libre we count Camille Dungy, Jena Osman, Don Silver, Geoffrey Young, Ellen Baxt, Robin Blaser, Juliana Spahr, Donald Revell, Frederich Tuten, Norman Austin, Heriberto Yepez, Charles Jensen, Rick Moody, Jessica Berger Gross, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, David Shapiro, William Vandegrift, Diana Delgado, Suzanne Warren, Marcia Reid Marsted, Naomi Alderman, Alexander Cockburn, Lihn Dihn, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Brian Turner, Srikanth Reddy, Simon Pettet, Gary Glazner, Olga Broumas, and David Abel. We are happy to boast that these residencies were successful collaborations, and Casa Libre’s name has been mentioned in the acknowledgments of many of the works developed within Casa’s nurturing atmosphere.

In addition to our on-site readings and workshops, Casa Libre provides an event base for many Tucson-based groups, including local chapters of the National Writers' Union, Kore Press, Queer People of Color, Pan Left Productions, and Read Between the Bars.

Casa Libre serves a diverse audience, presenting readers from all over the country, while keeping in mind that Tucson is both our physical home and community base. The founders and board members of Casa Libre are deeply invested in fostering creativity. We are devoted to honoring and making space for thinking, writing, conversation, art-making and performance in a world dearly in need of artistic vision, creative solutions, and celebration of the human mind.

 

   
   

Last updated September 9, 2009
Document located at http://www.casalibre.org
Website maintained by casakeepers@casalibre.org
© 2005 Casa Libre en la Solana