Unpoetry at the Frye has been an invaluable addition to our schedule. Specific to the museum, Eric Acosta curates a lineup of local artists to respond to exhibitions, with the resulting program being an ever-changing example of ekphrasis. The program brings together a group of artists who meet regularly to collaborate on a final program. These meetings are an important part of the overall process and become creative salons, a platform in which to share ideas with other creatives in different fields and stages of their career. Unpoetry provides a wonderful opportunity for audiences to experience exhibitions like never before without a ticket price. It encourages extended viewing of the artworks on display and encountering new ideas, all while dismantling the outdated notion that art museums are only for the elite. In our goal to develop a more inclusive environment, partners like Unpoetry are necessary in the journey.
-- Anna Buxton
Frye Art Museum Program Manager
As young artists and aspiring event organizers seeking community, we could not be more grateful for Eric and Unpoetry. Unpoetry sits at the forefront of Seattle's re-emerging experimental art scene, where all are welcome to push the bounds of artistic expression. It bridges the gap between Seattle art spaces and the general public, creating of network artists, performers, poets, and un-poets alike. Supporting Unpoetry is supporting a platform that lifts all boats and helps all artists thrive.
-- Jed, Christy, and Marianne of HYPERBoy Collective
Multimedia, Performing Arts
Unpoetry is unexpected collaborations. Unpoetry is a community space for weird art. Unpoetry is a workshop and a finished show. Unpoetry is a space for connection between artists. The work that Eric is doing as a community organizer for artists is amazing, and deserves to be amplified and supported. I appreciate the people he brings together and the art that he is able to curate and share that otherwise might not have been seen.
-- Sophie Chin
Percussionist, Composer, Event Organizer
A pillar of the DIY boundary-defying performance series, Unpoetry ushers in artists from multiple backgrounds into the greater Seattle arts scene. As visionary liaison to the program, Eric Acosta continues to diligently lift up artists from diverse demographics, prioritizing BIPOC and "novice" practitioners at the forefront. Unpoetry's bar of entry remains unobstructed while also highlighting work from fulltime, parttime and first-time artists experimenting in dance, literary techniques, noise, visual art, theater and beyond. This cross pollination has led to unlikely and lifetime collaborations spanning a multiplicity of mediums. Unpoetry is undefinable in form and space, manifesting in the bureaucratically unrecognized basements and attics of Seattle's assumed abandoned facilities and main-paging at the city's distinguished and only free major gallery, The Frye Art Museum.
Through Unpoetry, Eric has given me an opportunity to read my original writing in front of a live audience- an experience that continues to terrify and help me puncture into a necessary territory of growth beyond the parameters of my formal training. Writing is peripheral to my artistic work but has never been something I felt I could share aloud. The illusion of needing permission to create outside of a self-diagnosed "discipline" is erased with Unpoetry's elevation of the ametuer.
As a dancer by trade, Eric invited myself and two collaborators into a 2024 series of Unpoetry at The Frye where my performance installation interacted with the work of Mary Ann Peters' and a smattering of Romanticism paintings hung gaudily from the towering walls in the salon. On paper, this opportunity helped afford my acceptance into the MFA in Dance program that I am currently writing from. In the corporeal, the Frye performance ekphrastically wove together dance, sound design, curation and durational performance; an underscore of what Unpoetry is: an always free-to-the-public, unapologetic amorphous creative opportunity for inspired people.
-- Hannah Rice
Dancer, Writer
I enjoyed being part of Unpoetry as a dancer. I appreciated that the event was well curated and exemplified multiple disciplines. Although I was not a choreographer and I was essentially a last minute addition to my choreographer's (Symone Sanz's) piece, you ensured my name was on the flyer even though it was not originally. I was not expecting this nor did I even consider it, however that extra attention to detail made me feel like an essential part of our Unoetry performance. I also had not been to The Frye before performing there and I was grateful to experience the space through Unpoetry. I got to meet other artists and curators which makes me feel more connected to the art scene in Seattle. Unpoetry is particularly accessible and communal, and I am grateful that it continues.
-- Sarah Meltzer
Dancer
I went to an unpoetry session at jack straw cultural center. I didn’t know what to expect, only that there would be new media/flux/noise performances. Each piece gave me more appreciation for performance art and the potential the art form has. Since then, I have been following the artists and supporting them with what I can. Unpoetry makes me want to dig deeper into the Seattle art community and be a part of supporting local emerging small artists like me.
-- M. Randall
Interdisciplinary Artist
As a primarily visual artist, unpoetry gives me access to a more diverse world of art production. Within my experience as a painter, it is easy to slip into only consuming the work of other painters. Unpoetry made me more aware of and excited by artworks from a broader scope of media. This has included inspiring soundscape/sonic artists, conceptual artists, and even other painters who are invested in cross-disciplinary work. Being a part of an Unpoetry event both exposes me to new and enriching views on art practice and exposes my practice to others seeking the same.
-- Wolf the Storyteller
Painter
unpoetry has revolutionized my Seattle literary community. It is a space that is both inclusive and artistically profound. Every unpoetry has work that challenge me and delight me. It's where I first tested material from the novel project for which I later received a Jackstraw Fellowship and an Artists Trust Gap Grant. Unpoetry is alive and real, and it gives me the sense of being there when history is being made.
-- Becca Rose Hall
Novelist, Founder of Frog Hollow School
Unpoetry provides poets, performance artists, and outsider musicians in Seattle a space and audience for sharing work. More importantly, it provides a space for those artists and the community to come together and exchange ideas. I have performed at 2 Unpoetry events, at both of which I saw poets, dancers, and musicians performing new experimental work. The performers were diverse in experience, practice, background, and age. Unexpected collaborations have spawned from each of my experiences. And at both I saw new collaborations. My favorite thing about Unpoetry is that people who have never performed before have the same stage and opportunity as long established Seattle artists. And lastly, that Unpoetry is a roving event, unfolding in various and diverse venues - DIY arts spaces, cafes and bars, and museums - aids the mission to keep both audience and artists fresh.
-- Benjamin von Wildenhaus
Guitarist, Songwriter
Unpoetry is a wonderful showcase of the most creative and underrepresented minds in the greater Seattle area. It truly represents the "Art For Everyone" Ethos and is both a launching point and convergence for some of the most boundary pushing forms of expression I have seen. I love how open and engaging these events are. Unpoetry has championed everyone from spoken word poets to postmodern noise dancers, and the community has benefitted greatly as a result.
-- Val (Blue Jao)
Musician, Performance Artist
Unpoetry is one of the few remaining underground arts events happening in Seattle. It’s open and expansive enough to include poetry, sound, dance and visual art. Each event is different and it morphs to include a particular space or to support a touring performer. It feels inclusive for people of a variety of interests and gives a welcoming space for both upstart and seasoned poets/performers. This fluidity is why we want to live in cities ; I hope to see this thrive and continue to expand at the pace it already has in a few short years.
-- Angelica (Mundane Possesion)
Writer, Musician
Unpoetry welcomes all types of voices from all over the country and serves as an important space for culture and counterculture to thrive! Eric and the Unpoetry crew made our poetry collective from Eastern WA, which features readers from age 18-84, feel free to express the ins, outs, ups and downs of our human experiences! The multimedia whirlwind melds the magic of sound, poetry, and visual art together in a seamless and thought-provoking way, inviting performer and attendee alike to expand their idea of what poetry can be and what it doesn't have to be!
-- Kama
Poet, member of Headlamp Children Art Collective
My initial appearance at Unpoetry occurred two weeks after my first facial feminization surgery. I was in a fragile place—recovering without much support, angry at so many people. I hated myself, and I wanted to present poetry that conveyed that: my uncontained rage, emotional volatility, and lingering memories. I started by reading explicit poems about my self-harm, which prompted audience silence as a few people left the room. Then I switched to poems about love and loss, a reprise from my grief laid bare. Those got a warmer reception, which was expected. But afterward, a woman told me she connected with my rawness, whether from romantic longing or self-hatred. She said we were meant to meet that day. We never saw each other again, but for that moment of connection, I thank Eric for giving me reading time that day. It made me feel better, even for only a moment.
-- Sofia O.
Electronic Musician, Writer
From what I've seen from Unpoetry, there has been a much needed high level of unpredictability in these performances. Visually, as well as audibly.
-- Marc Palm
Cartoonist / Illustrator
Today, I write in support of the art and performance organization, Unpoetry, operated by multimedia artist and community organizer, Eric Acosta. Over the past three years, Unpoetry has emerged as a fixture in the Seattle arts scene, hosting numerous events that run the gamut from intimate poetry readings and experimental noise music shows to ekphrastic mixed media performances that filled the Frye Art Museum to capacity. Having read at several and attended dozens of Unpoetry events since its inception, I can say with no embellishment that Acosta, through Unpoetry, has served as a catalyst for the arts in Seattle, connecting an array of diverse voices, cultures, and artistic perspectives that would not be nearly as robust as they are today without his efforts.
-- Reed Lowell
Poet, Small Press Operator
When I went to my first unpoetry show - I simply just knew this was for me. I left that show feeling like I was in a new city. Seattle just felt different after. Exposure to local artists I would’ve perhaps never seen or heard of are now easily accessible. It transformed and pushed my desire for community in a practical way where I can actually engage in the local performing arts scene. Make no mistake unpoetry is a vital project and I’m grateful to witness its impact.
-- Sam (Now that We’re Alone)
Guitarist, Dancer
I love Unpoetry so much. It’s the literary scene I wanted to be a part of decades ago when I was just starting out and reading the Beats and the New York School and all those folks. Unpoetry is a lot of things — feral audition hall, shamanoid conspiracy, traditional avant garde, subversive invitation — but the thing I love the most about it is how defiantly unpredictable and generously undefinable it is. Eric is so relentlessly dedicated to a practice of radical inclusion and wild experiment that the space is always charged with the treasures of presence and possibility. I’ve performed at Unpoetry three or four times in the last few years, and it’s always been a humble pleasure and a genuine honor among true contemporaries. Unpoetry is the kind of creative matrix that I would wish for any artist, anywhere, anytime.
-- Caleb Thompson (Afterlife Giftshop, Wordo)
Guitarist, Songwriter, Poet
Unpoetry is an ever evolving and undefinable force for collaboration and opportunity in the Seattle Arts community. What started as a humble poetry open mic, has become a nexus for interdisciplinary art and engagement. Transcending idiom and environment, Unpoetry presents newcomers alongside seasoned performers, with activations that reverberate in the halls of the Frye Art museum, and the backrooms and back allies of Seattle's third places. Tirelessly committed to the un-, Unpoetry is undisciplined, unapologetic, and the undoing of barriers, expectation and pretense in the arts community.
It is hard to quantify Unpoetry’s impact, because it is always in a state of becoming, in reaching, in pushing for new opportunities, new modalities, and always new participants. As opposed to establishing a scene or a community, Unpoetry understands that community is a constant process; of affirmation and expansion. Any opportunity for Unpoetry, whether it be at the Frye Art Museum or Jack Straw New media gallery, has been an opportunity to reach, and to reinvest in community.
-- Casey Adams
Event Organizer, Percussionist
I wasn't sure what to expect from Seattle's writing scene when I arrived. What I found didn't really make me feel inspired or welcome until I discovered the Unpoetry group. I have watched Eric steadily build a welcoming platform that gives space to new talent across styles and genres. I hope this garden of poets grows into a forest that can be fruitful for years to come.
-- Kevin K.
Poet, Print Maker
Eric has single handedly created a space for writers, musicians, and outsider artists to actually be a community in a city that is both too expensive for them and desperately needs them. We are regular attendees at Unpoetry events because we know that we will see other artists, get access to work that is challenging, and have a space to perform art for people who want to engage with it. There’s an entire social community that has developed around Unpoetry that does not exist in connection to other cultural institutions in this city. Museums, literary organizations and galleries charge money, involve gatekeepers, and are often not open when we are done with our day jobs. Unpoetry is local. It happens regularly. It is dependable. It is democratizing. Anyone is welcome. It is very much alive and Eric is its tireless champion. He has sacrificed personal financial stability, time, and energy in order to create an art scene for us. I can only imagine how much more he would be able to do with financial and organizational resources. Please help fund this vital organ in our city’s art scene!
-- Jenny and Gareth Holman
Artists and founders of Wordo Multimedia Art Collective
Unpoetry, as organized by Eric Acosta, has been a consistent source of inspiration in my personal life as an artist. Eric has exposed me to many avant-garde poets and performers that I had not encountered before, and has done a great job of consistently finding a supportive venue to host the shows at. I know from personal experience how difficult it can be to organize an event series, and Eric has really put in a lot of work to bring Unpoetry to life. Furthermore, I have noticed that Unpoetry centers marginalized performers much more than other event series, which creates an atmosphere of acceptance and understanding distinct from other series. White men have really been at the center of a lot of new art in Seattle, particularly in the noise scene, and it is great to see change in that respect. Eric is a hardworking, inspired, and dedicated poet and community organizer, and Unpoetry is absolutely deserving of any support it is eligible for.
-- Mariah Larsen (Lady Zade)
Cellist, Composer
Unpoetry is both very welcoming and very unique. I never know exactly what to expect when I attend a session, but it always surprises me. When I first moved back to Seattle after decades away and was trying to find my way in and around the art scene, I was very grateful to find this space where people had the freedom to experiment together. It creates a community, but a moving one, as some guests are regulars and some come only for one night. It's like visiting one of those miraculous pockets of deep-sea life that pop up around hydrothermal vents.
-- Olivia Rosane
Writer
Unpoetry is a space for talented, emerging, and experimental artists to share their work. Thanks to being invited to read at Unpoetry, I now contribute to a thriving arts community in Seattle. Under Eric Acosta’s leadership, it has grown from a few readings at local coffee shops to a recognized, regular reading series all across Seattle. Now more than ever, we need third spaces and environments that foster artistic inclusivity and experimentation, and that’s exactly what Unpoetry provides. I kindly ask that you consider Unpoetry for this grant.
-- Jacqueline Gordon
Poet
Unpoetry is an important opportunity for creative vulnerability. The Seattle series encourages rawness and experimentation with a devotedly supportive audience. Carrying the counterculture lineage of underground community, it builds much needed bridges between performance mediums. Thoughtful curation fluidly blends readings, dance, music, sound, and film into a natural cohesion of unfolding shared ideas. Unpoetry is a reflection of the current artistic plethora in Seattle.
-- Rachel LeBlanc
Musician, event organizer
unpoetry provides a platform for artists to perform, dream, and experiment. eric acosta fosters space for communities to exchange ideas and witness what is possible here in seattle; not new york, not berlin— but right here and now in our own city. i have been able to witness professional dance, experimental poetry, beginner synth (to name a few things)— one of the first times i read poetry was at unpoetry. my first artistic collaboration was through unpoetry as was my movement debut— i am unsure i would have been able to start a movement practice anywhere else or at any other time; it’s beautiful to be so supported by an event series and the people involved. i’ve met friends and future chosen family at these events. unpoetry is by and for us— all of us. we expand, we try new things (sometimes nailing it and sometimes not), we discuss what’s interesting to us or what could change in our community/ art endeavors— and it is accessible even to our most vulnerable community members as the events are free; i don’t think this is happening anywhere else in seattle. it is all very inspiring and continues to influence my life here as an artist and a community member. craft, performance, support: this is what is needed to have a thriving art community, and what eric provides with his continuous efforts. i am in awe of his abilities and excited to see where he takes this series.
-- Sullivan Forderhase
Poet, Dancer, Event Organizer (Blood Sugar)
Eric Acosta’s Unpoetry has been an essential connective force in our community since its grassroots beginnings. Delightfully strange, unapologetic, and full of surprises, this series is one in which artists of multi-genre mediums are invited to bring the raw & unbridled versions of their work. Experimentation is abundant, and improvisation makes its way into every showcase. For its consistency, openness, and audacity, Unpoetry has become an incredibly important crux of performance, poetics, and witnessing within Seattle’s art scene.
-- Emily J. Mundy
Poet, Event Organizer (Poetry Séance)
When I first moved to the city it took a while to feel connected to the art scene, but I can still remember when that feeling changed attending my first Unpoetry event and how warmly the community took me in. It has become one of my favorite creative events in Seattle. Every time I go, I leave feeling inspired and better about the world, not because the work people share is always uplifting, but because I’m reminded that creative, thoughtful people are still here, making meaningful art, sharing it, connecting, and supporting each other. Unpoetry is a wonderful community to feel a part of and I can genuinely say it has made Seattle a better place to be.
-- Circe A.
event organizer, artist
I remember finding unpoetry through deep searching poetry related events in Seattle, I couldnt make it for a while, but I always appreciated the vulnerability, community-sense, & events shared in Eric Acosta's unpoetry newsletter.
When I finally went to my first unpoetry event at the Jack Straw Cultural Center in June, I was blown away. The people there were all so nice & welcoming & what I experienced & percieved was the most creative & insane stuff ever; a fever dream I'm happy to not wake up from.
As a lifelong artist, I felt super inspired & have been going to every unpoetry (& related) events I possibly can. I've noticed myself speaking more truly & poetically recently & I believe it’s largely thanks to unpoetry & events endorsed by Eric.
Truly, unpoetry has a very unique "flavor" I feel the community (especially creatives) can really be nourished by; relevant to the world within & without.
-- Bunny
mixed media artist