E. Stanley Richardson
I never thought of myself as an artist. Just me saying the word and calling myself an artist felt weird. - E. Stanley Richardson
E. Stanley Richardson believes that we are all poets!
tor of ARTSPEAKSgnv Inc., a non profit organization Gina-Marie Cheeseman dedicated to promoting literacy, encouraging es, everyone. All of creativity, expanding ideas us. and opportunity by providing a medium for expression He believes that everyday interactions, the casual through the art of Poetry, Spoken-Word, Storytelling and the serious, conversaand the Creative Arts. The tions between people are idea for ARTSPEAKSgnv all forms of poetic expreswas spawned back in 2012 sion. when he began to seriously In January of 2020, E. consider his own artistic Stanley Richardson was seexpression. lected by the board of Ala“I never thought of chua County Commissionmyself as an artist. Just me ers to serve as the county’s saying the word and calling inaugural Poet Laureate. myself an artist felt weird. “It was a very competitive Writing was just something process, I almost didn’t apthat I’ve always done, it ply. When the county anwas how I felt most comfortnounced the call for artists, able communicating with I was just excited that all of myself and others. Writing my years of advocacy was was just the device that I’ve coming to fruition. That my always employed to make beloved county was actually going to appoint a poet sense of the world around laureate. I really didn’t think me”, remembers Richardson. that it would be me!”
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As founder and direc-
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With the encourage-
ment from his wife Carol Velasques-Richardson, he began to share his poetry with the community and to seek out other poets in the area. It was during this time that he says he discovered how “cliquish” the poetry community was. “You had all of these different groups of poets meeting all over the place. Black poets meeting over here on this day, LGBTQIA poets meeting over here on this day, Feminists poets meeting over here, Formal poets over here and on and on. So, I just thought about how very cool and extraordinarily powerful it would be to have all of these beautiful voices together under one roof. I approached the city of Gainesville’s Department of Cultural Affairs, we formed a partnership and we held our very first ARTSPEAKS event.” With the creation of
ARTSPEAKS, Richardson wanted to make sure that the organization had a platform for youth to freely express themselves in a safe environment. With that in mind, he established ARTSPEAKS: Courageous Young Voices and has also partnered with Urban-Word and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, to ensure that teens attending school in Alachua County and other rural north central Florida counties, have equal access to this platform. Richardson’s dedication to cultivating expression in youth and adults through the power of poetry is unparalleled. He strives to be a community culture bearer – one who embodies culture and transmits it – and his work catalyzes protective factors that strengthen and build resilience in communities such as social cohesion, self-awareness, self-efficacy, and autonomy.
