Writers Collaborative Explores New Territory

Graduate students studying creative writing at San Diego State University will soon get the chance to explore cross-disciplinary projects with Arts Alive and other campus entities.   A cooperative between writers and scientists, poets, artists, dancers, musicians, visual artists and more will manifest itself both on-campus and off-campus as students get involved in the MFA Writers Collaborative.   Breaking barriers 
“Students will have the chance to take their writing off the page,” explains Professor Sandra Alcosser, who is helping to spearhead the program. “For example, they might perform pieces of poetry as pop-up performances, or work with a visual artist and have their writing artistically displayed in a gallery downtown.” 
To explain how a cross-disciplinary project might work between writers and biologists, for example, Alcosser mentioned a project that she worked on with the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York in 2006. She served as a poet-in-residence for the New York branch of an effort called “The Language of Conservation,” where she helped choose poems with messages about nature and environmental conservation. Portions of these 41 selected poems were displayed throughout the Central Park Zoo. 
“That’s where I discovered how potent collaboration could be,” she remarked.    A growing club 
The MFA Writers Collaborative is a club with approximately 15 active members and Alcosser expects that number to increase as more project opportunities come to the forefront.   “I want the club to grow organically,” she said. 
The club co-hosted a Poetic Picnic with the School of Art and Design and Arts Alive on Nov. 13 at the ENS field behind the Music building. Students in the School of Art and Design created signs with a single word on them, and members of the MFA Writers Collaborative arranged them into lines of poetry. Students stopped by to eat lunch as they looked at the various lines of poetry. 
Breeann Kirby, president of the MFA Writers Collaboration said, “We want the projects to be a mix of joyous and serious work. We’re looking to forge new territory, while making connections on and off-campus.”
“These collaborative efforts are a really fun, diverse way of expressing ourselves,” she said. “And when different areas can work together, the possibilities are unlimited.” 
The next event is a pop-up poetry performance in the courtyard of the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union on December 10.      Partnerships 
The Arts Alive SDSU initiative works to promote the arts on campus through various means. Through social media, members of the group highlight special creative events like theatre performances and art exhibits by SDSU students. The arts visibility initiative is also responsible for on-campus artwork, such as the painted benches on the Performing Arts Plaza. 
The MFA Writers Collaborative will also be working with The Sage Project, a partnership between SDSU and local San Diego government that serves communities in the areas of health, business, and environment. Another partnership is in the works with San Diego Roots, a non-profit dedicated to educating, empowering and cultivating sustainable local food communities.    More information about the club can be found at mfawriterscollaborative.wordpress.com.