Writer’s Gallery - Love Edition

Prepare your love-themed stories, poems, spoken word, or book excerpts for our February Writer’s Gallery!

Come to the Center for the Arts for Bay County’s favorite open-mic night for writers from 6pm-7:30pm on the second Thursday of every other month. Doors open at 5:30pm.

Come to share your work or listen to the creative writers of Bay County share theirs! Everyone is welcome to speak or listen!

MORE ABOUT FEBRUARY’S THEME
Use love as your theme as you craft your short stories, poems, spoken word, or pick your book excerpts. Absolutely anything love-themed is allowed.

And if you want to get in for free, you have to wear red, pink, or hearts! Otherwise, you have to pay $5 at the door.

TOPICS:

August 8: School
October 10: Haunted
December 12: Winter
February 13: Love
April 9: Spring

Come to the main entrance dressed in in theme-appropriate attire to get in for free:

August 8: School-pride clothing
October 10: Halloween costume
December 12: Ugly (or pretty) Holiday sweater or shirt
February 13: Red or pink clothing or hearts
April 9: Flowers/Floral

OTHERWISE, you have to pay $5 at the door.

As always, it will be a perfect night for kicking back, getting inspired, and having fun listening to the works of some really creative people in our community.

We suggest the audience be 18+ years in age, but if you’d like to bring your child, we do caution that it is an open mic night, and while we have restrictions against hate speech and overly explicit language, we cannot control what it read, so a parental advisory is in place.

HOW TO SIGN UP AS A SPEAKER
Writers, poets, and spoken word artists are all welcome to sign up for an 8-minute open mic slot by calling in (850-640-3670), emailing (info@pccenterforthearts.com), or coming in-person to the Center for the Arts.

Our motto is “Write Hard. Speak Easy.” So don’t sweat it! Do your hard work when you’re writing and take it easy in front of the mic. It’s not meant to be scary. It’s supposed to be fun!

HISTORY ON THE “WRITER’S GALLERY”
The Writer’s Gallery was started by Lee Baker, of Northstar Church, as a poetry night at Rocky Shore Coffee Co. in 2010, but when Nick Mays began volunteering for the church, Lee asked Nick to take it over. It was renamed the Writer’s Gallery and became the longest-running, consecutive open mic night for writers in Bay County. In the almost three years that the Writer’s Gallery ran, it moved around, first to the Purple Grape and then to Amavida, but when Nick moved to Pensacola, the project lost its leader, and eventually stopped running.

Local publishing group, The Syndicate, has been talking about relaunching the Writer’s Gallery for a while now, so when the Center for the Arts was planning to expand its programming, it seemed like the perfect fit. Once Nick gave his blessing, we were excited to bring the open-mic night back! Hopefully you all are, too!