info
ccma
Founded in 2010 by Stuart Kirkpatrick, Copper Colored Mountain Arts (CCMA) is a nonprofit arts organization that brings together local and nationally recognized artists, poets, musicians, artisans, and performers to stimulate creative dialogue and create circumstances in which beauty and awareness can flourish. Our name is inspired by Black Mountain College. With its focus on interdisciplinary study, formal exploration, personal directedness, and an approach to art that entails an open and awakened stance in the world, we feel Black Mountain College is an ideal worth revisiting. Through our various programs, CCMA strives to reshape the cultural landscape of Michigan and beyond. In the 2012 season, CCMA is focusing solely on our main program, One Pause Poetry, which offers poetry readings, conversations, and workshops in multiple settings across the southeastern Michigan region. All poetry readings and conversations are free and open to the public.
our mission
One Pause Poetry strives to make poetry accessible to all. We are non-academic and non–market-driven. One Pause Poetry honors diversity and quality in our selection process and is dedicated to supporting Michigan poets. We select both established and emerging writers for our series and website, with the goal of breaking down categories and camps and encouraging collaboration and innovation across poetic forms, the arts, and media.
history
One Pause Poetry @ CCMA arose in response to a direct need—university reading series were losing their funding, and Shaman Drum, a great local independent bookstore, had closed. In a time when all funding in the arts seemed bankrupt and depleted, we decided to rush in.
One Pause Poetry is named after the 15th-century enlightened Zen master and poet Ikkyu Sojun, whose name means "Once Paused." Ikkyu revolutionized the aesthetics of medieval Japan—much of what we consider when we think of Japanese culture. Rock gardens, Noh Theater, calligraphy, and poetry are because of Ikkyu and the group of artists he surrounded himself with. It's something to aspire to here and now.
One Pause Poetry exists with generous support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, the Dam Tsig Foundation, Josh Pokempner and Gretchen Gardner, and other generous individual donors, interns, and more than forty volunteers. One Pause is also indebted to METAL, which will provide the venue for many of our upcoming events, and the Tsogyelgar Dharma Center, where our series originated.
board of directors
Governing Board, Copper Colored Mountain Arts
Board Chair: Stuart Kirkpatrick
Board Members: Ryan Vanderhoof, Sarah Messer, Anna Goudsmit
President: Anna Goudsmit
One Pause Poetry
Director: Sarah Messer
Webmaster & Events Coordinator: Clarissa Sansone
Publicity: Amy Blondin, Audra Puchalski
Video: Kate Riley, Audra Puchalski
Audio: Ryan Vanderhoof
Photography: Garin Horner, A-tsal Khandro
Fabulous Interns Past & Present: Audra Puchalski, Paula Mendoza-Hanna, Julia Eussen, Anthony Zick, Sheri Montgomery
Advisory Board: Suzanne Wise, Peter O’Leary, Raymond McDaniel, Daniel Nathan Terry
