PASSWORD FOR JUNE:
“I don't care what is written about me as long as it isn't true.” Which early 20th century journalist, critic, poet, and satirist said this?

Come to the Center for the Arts for the relaunch of Bay County's favorite open-mic night for writers—the "Writer's Gallery"—on the 4th Thursday of every month, from 7pm-9pm. Doors open at 6:30pm.

June's Writer's Gallery will be transformed into a night of comedy writing to match our June exhibitions featuring comics and cartoons. Read your funny poetry, short stories, and book excerpts to entertain the audience.

Our "Writer's Gallery" has a speakeasy theme, so doll up in your glad rags and pop on over to our juice joint to have a swell time with the gang! (Feel free to wear whatever you want, but if you want to dress in a Prohibition era outfit, you get a gold star!)

Attendees should come to the original entrance of the Center for the Arts—the blue door on E 4th St—prepared with this month's password (follow our Facebook Page for each month's hint). Everyone with the password gets in for free. Otherwise, you have to pay $5 at the door.

For those patrons who have a hard time navigating stairs, the handicap accessible entrance will also be open, as well as the elevator.

Wine will be on sale, but there will also be water or coffee for the teetotalers in the audience.

It will be a perfect night for kicking back, getting inspired, and having fun listening to the works of some of the 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 on the day of the event 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!