Thank You from Lisa and Poetry in America

Dear 
Jeffrey 
(and please see note at bottom), 

This end-of-the-year letter is to catch you up on developments and to report progress made in 2016 
by Poetry in America, by its associated non-profit production company, Verse Video Education, and 
by (and with) our new Harvard partner, the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Whether 
you are a longstanding adviser and supporter of Poetry in America, or you've more recently joined 
our circle of proponents, your contributions, thought partnership and enthusiasm have made this 
year's successes possible. 

Last fall, I knew this would be a crucial year. Goals for 2016 included moving our co-produced 
television series, Poetry in America, toward a concrete release date (now entering post-production, 
we launch nationwide in April 2018), converting our six HarvardX MOOC modules into for-credit 
courses (now complete and being offered by Harvard's Division of Continuing Education), and 
getting the word out on our first course developed especially for K-12 educators, Poetry in America  
for Teachers: The City from Whitman to Hip Hop. With a mission of creating and distributing the 
highest-quality humanities content for a wide variety of learners, our projects now rely on a salaried 
production staff of five, a rotating corps of part timers and contractors, and a growing cohort of 
Harvard graduate students, undergraduates and interns whom we train in the public-facing 
humanities. Growing fast, in 2016 we more firmly established Verse Video Education as a nimble 
and stable producer of humanities-based content (now including an archive of over 120 separate 
interviews with distinguished discussants), while also defining a forward-looking partnership and 
growth strategy with Harvard. As 2016 draws to a close, I have much progress to report. 

Jeffrey, 
Just a quick note to thank you again for all the help you've given me. The generous contribution you 
made last year to Verse Video Education is now in use (we've hired our new editor!). Once he helps 
us to plow through the work of this year, we'll begin to look forward to crafting educational content on 
the literature of art, sport and play (these materials now including footage from recent shoots with 
Shaquille O'Neal, Yo Yo Ma, Cynthia Nixon, Bono and others). 100K makes so much possible. 
But, of course, you've also been a key preceptor as I've learned how --squirming all the way--the 
sausage really gets made in public television. I can't say I've been entirely successful in taming costs 
there, but I've been far better armed and more mindful of what they should be after the stern tutorial 
you administered. 
Whenever Templeton might be ready to evaluate another application, I'm ready for another proposal 
for them. I wonder if you might arrange a meeting for me with the famous Bamaby? I can't yet afford 
a grant writer, and so the time one of these suckers takes makes me think doing more advance 
reconnaissance is crucial. Would he meet with me? Kosher? I'd also love to meet with the Blacks as 
I get closer to making content on theatre. I hope that Debra is well. 
And heard there's another little Jeff in the caribbean... 
Best, 
Elisa New

from barnaby - 
she could apply, but she should know that there are only a few grants in each round; most projects proposed 
don't get funding. It is like rolling the dice. what people don't understand is that many grants are not funded not 
because they are defective in any way, but simply because there is not enough funding to cover even a part of 
what comes in (there are thousands of applications and hundreds of millions of dollars of requests that go all 
through different kinds of review; it is hard to know what will make it through because different people make 
the priority decisions at different stages of review; and it depends what other applications are in the pool in a 
given cycle). There is no "direct" route anymore.