Word Fest History | 2012 Albany Word Fest

The very first Albany Word Fest was held in Thatcher Park on Saturday, September 8, 2001. This event featured poetry readings and music from many local artists.

For the second year in a row, the Albany Word Fest was held at Thatcher Park for the 2002 edition of the event. This was the first year that we had featured poets, as Alan Catlin and Mary Panza performed between the groups of open mic poets from all around upstate New York.

The 2003 Albany Word Fest was the first indoors Word Fest. We ventured down from the mountain and hosted the Word Fest at Valentines. In 2003, Leo hosted an open mic throughout the day on the first floor of the venue while featured poets and musicians including Bob Wright, Cheryl Rice, Will Nixon, Barbara Threecrow, Gabrielle Zane, Elizabeth Thomas, Faith Vicinanza, Don Levy, Shannon Shoemaker, Jill Hannifan, Anthony Bernini, Maureen Kowsky, Rachel Zitomer, Dan Wilcox, Jason Martin, Mojavi, Simone Sneed, Dr. Sax (Bruce Richardson and James Washburn), Mary Panza, Bone Leonard, Thom Francis, R.M. Engelhardt, Mike Jurkovic, Eddie Bell, Amy Ouzoonian, Robert Milby, Julie Gutmann, Victoria Moore, Nancy Klepsch, and Sally Rhodes performed upstairs.

Albany Poets decided to move the annual Word Fest to the spring from the fall in mid-2004, so the fourth installment of the Albany Word Fest took place on Friday and Saturday, April 22-23, 2005. This was the biggeset Word Fest to-date, as the event grew from one day to two days. The event also went one venue to four with readings and events happening throughout the weekend at The Lark Tavern, Valenties, Lark Street Bookshop and the Firlefranz Gallery.

The 2006 Albany Word Fest continued the tradition of spreading out the event over two days and mulitple venues. The Word Fest Open Mic was held on Friday night at the UAG Gallery and Saturday afternoon at Valentines. Albany Poets invited the hosts of the mulitple regional poetry open mics to perform as the featured artists during the Open Mic.

The UAG Gallery, Tess' Lark Tavern, and Valentines were again the venues for the 2007 Albany Word Fest on the weekend of April 20-21, 2007. The weekend kicked-off with the Word Fest Open Mic at the UAG on Friday night. On the next day Tess' Lark Tavern hosted The Experimental Cabaret with poetry, music, and art from Mother Judge and Nicole Peyrafitte, Mary Panza with Monica Roach and John Weiler, and Thom Francis with Keith Spencer and Jared Funari. Later on Saturday at Valentines the Word Fest closed out with performances by Sean Baxter, A.C. Everson, Debora Bump, Palatypus, The Fire Flies, Tom McWatters, and Princess Mabel.

The 2008 Albany Word Fest took place on April 18-19 at the UAG Gallery. The Word Fest Open Mic was held Friday night with over 50 poets stepping up to the mic to share their work. The annual Psycho Cluster F#*k on Saturday night featured music and spoken word from The Jonhnny Bravehearts, The House Band of the Apocalypse, Nicole K, Dain Brammage, The Poet Essence, and Max Parthas.

The 2009 Albany Word Fest was the debut of the 12-Hour Word Fest Open Mic. From 7:00PM on Friday, April 17 to 7:00AM on Saturday, April 18, over 80 poets and spoken word artists performed to an overflowing UAG Gallery. Featured at this open mic were A.C. Everson, groups of poets from Woodstock, Voorheesville, and other parts of the area, plus all three of that years Metrolands Best Poets (Mary Panza, Dan Wilcox, and R.M. Engelhradt). Saturday night, the PCF returned with performaces by The Rambling Jug Stompers, Ed RInaldi, Mother Judge, Margot Malia Lynch, Daniel Nester, and Murrow.

For the 2010 Albany Word Fest, we returned to the UAG Gallery and kicked off the weekend with a special Youth Open Mic at 5:00PM. At 7:00PM the 12-Hour Word Fest Open Mic began. After the success of the previous year Albany Poets decided to make this a part of the Word Fest every year. The Open Mic featured groups of poets from Albany, Schenectady, Woodstock, Voorheesville, and more. On Saturday night, April 17, the Word Fest closed out with performances from Rebecca Schumejda, Nathan Graziano, The Johnnie Bravehearts, Murrow, and Urban Guerilla Theater.

In 2011, we held the entire event on one day, April 16, at The Linda, WAMC's Performing Arts Studio on Central Ave. The Word Fest Open Mic started at 7:00am and went for 12 hours straight. The annual Psycho Cluster F*#k featured poetry, music and spoken word from upstate New York artists David Fey, Olivia Quillio, Avery, Daniel Nester, Poetyc Vyzyonz, Mother Judge’s Open Mic Showcase, Metroland’s Best Poets of 2011: Mary Panza, R.M. Engelhardt, and KC Orcutt,