Dear Beyond Baroque Family, Friends, Members, and Supporters: As President of the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center Board of Trustees, as well as an active Board member for the past seven years, it has been an honor and privilege of the highest order to work with each member of the Board as a whole, our incredible staff, and of course, our invaluable Executive Director, Quentin Ring. Thank you to all our members and supporters as well! What a gratifying experience seeing our community in the audience together at our annual galas, in our theater, bookstore, gallery, and garden celebrating all that Beyond Baroque has represented since 1968: “A place dedicated to the possibilities of language.” My term as the first African American, Afro Indigenous, and woman Board president of Beyond Baroque comes to a close on December 31, 2024, and I am proud to have contributed to this incredible organization’s success and support for the literary arts and artists in Los Angeles and California in multiple ways. During my tenure and time on the Board as an artist, I was humbled and honored to personally curate and participate in many successful events, including the homage readings to Ntonze Shange, Toni Morrison, and bell hooks. I read at The Wanda Coleman Theater Inauguration, and twice for the Writers Resist events, as well as participated in the Southern California Poetry Festival. Equally, I’ve been blessed to read with 30+ poets and writers for their book releases or my own. In my time as President, I led recruitment that resulted in 10+ new Board members joining Beyond Baroque, all of whom are absolutely fantastic and equally committed to our mission; co-drafted our 3-year Strategic Plan; raised and/or contributed more than $35,000 to the organization; organized several successful Board retreats at The Huntington Library; co-created and judged the successful Amanda Gorman Emerging Voices Poetry Prize and Scholarship for young writers of color; oversaw the creation and revision of the board’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, and Accessibility Committee and our Youth Committee; nominated awardees; proposed planning for a Capital Campaign and the establishment of an Endowment; and contributed to the hiring of valuable staff who keep Beyond Baroque going. None of this could have been accomplished without the commitment, dedication and contributions of the Board, the staff, our volunteers, and the wonderful Quentin Ring. Upon reflection, one of the most important things I learned during my time at the helm of one of the most important literary arts organizations in North America is that our commitment to poetry and the work that poets and writers do is a team effort—indeed the writing of the poem is a solitary act, but the reading, sharing, and response to poems, poetry, and stories become a collective act that empowers us all. While I’m stepping down as President and off the Board, particularly to focus on my forthcoming book of poems, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone (May 2025), I plan to maintain a role as both a Board member at large and as a Writer at large. I will continue to attend, organize, and support incendiary events in both our Wanda Coleman Theater and online that allow writers of color to define ourselves in the face of racism and systematic oppression, allow multi-language speaking poets and writers to assert their primary language as equal to the language of colonizers, and allow all poets to use language as a tool to speak truth to power and beauty into a world poised on the cusp of uncertainty and change under a new regime. Rest assured, my work with Beyond Baroque is ongoing because the power of language to transform our lives is ongoing. As my final outgoing act, I ask each of you to continue to support Beyond Baroque as you can, as we continue to unveil new programs, nurture writers and artists, and uplift our historic space. Please donate to our end-of-year campaign by midnight, December 31 here. All gifts count. Please also feel free to stay in contact via my newsletter here, and please reach out if you have any questions, or simply would like to share a word of encouragement with me by email at shondabuchanan@aol.com. Thank you, thank you, thank you. In Light, Joy, and Solidarity, Shonda Buchanan President, Beyond Baroque Board of Trustees