Boston Poetry Slam Public Health Update: March 12, 2020

And now, the poetic content you’ve been waiting for: the Boston Poetry Slam would like to acknowledge and address the current public health events surrounding coronavirus/COVID-19 in the Cambridge and surrounding areas.

As of noon on Thursday, March 12, the Boston Poetry Slam is currently running as usual: we hold a weekly Wednesday show at the Cantab and a monthly Moonlighting show on first Sundays at the Democracy Center. If public health conditions or recommendations necessitate cancellation or postponement, we will post notification here on bostonpoetryslam.com and on our Facebook page and events (note that our tumblr may not be as up-to-date).

We recognize that best practices for containment of illness do not include gathering in our 100-seat venues. We also recognize that we are a space that provides social support in a time of elevated anxiety, familiar physical space for people unhomed by rapidly evolving local health policies, and financial stability to working artists. In balancing these concerns, we will operate as scheduled as long as it is safe and appropriate to do so, and only as long as it is safe and appropriate to do so. Please be assured that all of our features, staff, and support personnel attend of their own personal volition and none are contractually or socially obligated to appear at the space as scheduled. We do not currently have plans or resources to livestream events, but will hear technical proposals via email.

For folks who would like to join us at our shows, we make the following recommendations:

  • Please do not attend our events if you have a fever or cough, or have been exposed to respiratory droplets from someone with these symptoms in the past two weeks.
  • Your fragrance-free hand sanitizer and your properly fitted mask are welcome in our spaces.
  • As always, remember to respect personal space and practice good hand hygiene.

For more information about our spaces, please see the detailed accessibility pages for our Wednesday weekly show and Moonlighting.

For folks who cannot attend, but would like to support our upcoming features, we offer direct links to product from these really excellent poets:

And for more information, we recommend the following resources:

If you have further questions about our venue spaces, upcoming events, policies, or how to support our artists, please feel free to email simone@bostonpoetryslam.com.

With poetry and clean hands,
Simone Beaubien, Curator