As the 2018 Millspace Arts and Culture Laureate of Newmarket, NH, Carand Burnet organized a two-part writing and art project where residents anonymously collaborated with writers.
Located at 55 Main Street in Newmarket, NH, Millspace: A Center for Art, History & Culture is a vibrant civic space dedicated to cultural exploration and experimentation. Millspace offers community members roundtable discussions, workshops, panel sessions, lectures, gallery installations, film festivals, historic engagement, musical performances, education, and live theater. 2018 is Millspace’s 5th anniversary!
At Millspace: A Center for Art, History & Culture, Burnet displayed shadow boxes with staged miniature items from May 25th – July 7th 2018. All who attended the exhibit anonymously wrote a line about a favorite “poetic theater” box. After the show, Burnet collected this writing and distributed it to poets who composed a poem inspired by this material written by the community. On September 14th, participants read his or her Tiny Writes poem during a celebration at Millspace.
The idea for this project originated in a writing group Burnet was part of lead by poet Emily Pettit. One exercise was to distribute envelopes that contained disparate images or miniature items and writers would compose a poem based on the provided material. It allowed class participants to explore new subjects, imagery, and tone in surprising ways.
