Today we’d like to introduce you to Maureen McDole.
Hi Maureen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The literary organization that I run is called Keep St. Pete Lit. We started in August 2013. It began with the desire to create a larger literary dialogue in Tampa Bay. There were a smattering of open mics around the area and literary events put on by the local colleges, but not a year-round literary voice. The Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading and Writers in Paradise at Eckerd were the big annual event literary events, but they went on only once a year. We now produce the annual SunLit Literary Festival, book clubs, writing classes for all ages, creative writing summer camps, poetry open mics, free book boxes for local youth and much more. Our headquarters are based in The Factory St. Pete in the Warehouse Arts District. I am a poet and a lover of literature. I believe whole-heartedly in the power of literature to change the world. I love helping to add value to our art scene and my community. I don’t believe you can have a thriving art community without a strong literary component. I am also excited to release my third poetry book in Spring 2021 through St. Petersburg Press.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The Tampa Bay community has been unbelievably welcoming and supportive. Many established organizations and businesses have given us space to incubate and grow. They have also helped promote us, which has been immeasurable because we had a very little marketing budget. St. Petersburg definitely was ready for a literary presence and that has been a joy to witness and be a part of. I had no non-profit experience when I started Keep St. Pete Lit, so the learning curve has been huge! It’s challenging to start an organization with no capital and to learn how to grow in a sustainable way without burning out physically and monetarily in the process. One benefit of having very little money was that we partnered with everyone we could and leveraged their resources and space. They were open to it because we brought value to our literary programming. It has definitely not been an easy ride. We are still working on creating a sustainable model, but it’s worth it to support the literary arts in our community.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
One thing that sets Keep St. Pete Lit a part as a literary arts non-profit is our partnerships with a wide variety of art organizations in our area. We branched out of the literary box and took reading and writing into places like the Museum of Fine Arts and Morean Art Center. We have several partnerships centered around ekphrastic writing, which uses art, glass, and photography as the inspiration for written work. This has helped to widen the scope of our audience and also helped us align with larger, more established art institutions. I have a craft arts background. I studied pottery all throughout my twenties before I realized I was meant to be a poet. I was married to a fine artist/graphic designer. I wanted desperately to merge the literary arts with the visual arts when I started Keep St. Pete Lit. Going out of our literary “lane” has allowed us to grow in ways I don’t think would have been possible if we didn’t merge with the growing art scene in our city. The time was ripe for our organization to start when it did and thankfully, the art community welcomed us with open arms.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I am feeling a lot of gratitude for us being a nimble organization that could easily transition online. Also, we didn’t have any overhead for rent and utilities because our events pop-up in buildings runs by other organizations and businesses, so we didn’t have to worry about “keeping the lights on.” I have used this year to regroup and think about where we want to go from here on out, as an organization and also for myself as a poet.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.keepstpetelit.org
- Instagram: www.instragram.com/keepstpetelit
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/keepstpetelit
- Twitter: twitter.com/keepstpetelit
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQxl9nhkHHPplpL00TJkYg
Image Credits:
Tim Arruda
