2026-2027 Grant Recipients
Levi Romero
Witter Bynner Fellow Poet
The Foundation will support Inaugural New Mexico poet laureate and Centennial poet Levi Romero's in-progress work "Stories Along the High Road, y mas alla"
Natachee Momaday Gray
Witter Bynner Fellow Poet
The Foundation will support indigenous poet, performer, and artist Natachee Momaday Gray's work on her second publication.
516 Arts
Literary Arts Series
The Foundation supports a year-long arts series designed to highlight and celebrate the rich cultural narratives of New Mexico with a focus on strategically undervalued communities. The series will include readings, workshops, and visual arts collaborations.
Chicharra Poetry Slam
Poetry Slam Festival
The Foundation will support the free, three-day poetry festival, which is dedicated to expanding access to contemporary poetry and spoken work while developing new, diverse audiences for the literary arts.
Chatter
Chatter's 2026-2027 Season
The Foundation supports Chatter's Sunday programming which features spoken word poetry as well as music.
New Mexico Writers
Supporting Indigenous Poetry
The Foundation is supporting unpublished Indigenous poets in New Mexico, on Pueblos and from the greater Navajo Nation.
Gavialidae
Gavialidae Fifth Issue
Gavialidae is a print literary periodical published annually. It includes poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. The Foundation will support poetry in the fifth issue of the publication.
Splinter Art and Community Fund
Somos Unos! Storytelling & Poetry Series
The Foundation will support this community-based poetry and storytelling series, including accessible writing workshops, an open mic and featured presenters from diverse communities.
Manzano Mountain Art Council
Youth, Art, Music & Culture Outreach Project
The Manzano Mountain Art Council (MMAC) has served its community for over 20 years with consistent general arts, culture and education advocacy. The Youth, Art, Music & Culture Outreach Project strives to offer a safe, welcoming environment where youth are exposed to a variety of artistic mediums. MMAC has incorporated poetry writing workshops and spoken word performances into their programming.
Santa Fe Girls School
Poetry Workshops
The Foundation funds a Poet-in-Residence program at the Santa Fe Girls School. The school is celebrating 26 years of the program, which was introduced in 2000. Poetry has the ability to empower the young women in the program and help them to find their voices at a time when social pressure is at its peak.
New Mexico Literary Arts
Espanola Writes!
The Foundation supports writing workshops in the Espanola Valley.
Swan Quill West
The Voice Project
This project creates opportunities for connection and visibility for the city's unhoused residents through poetry
Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe
Poetry Series
The CCA free Poetry Series will showcase the work of diverse local authors. CCA will connect their audience of more than 75,000 people a year with poets and poetry showcased in the cinema and gallery. They will also host poetry workshops, poetry critiques and pop-up events throughout the year.
New Mexico School for the Arts
The Witter Bynner Poetry Series at NMSA
The Foundation supports a poetry series that will bring poets to the School's Creative Writing and Literature Program throughout the academic year for readings and master classes. The program will be a fully curated poetry series that will benefit the entire NMSA student body as it will be a cross disciplinary course. In addition, NMSA will create the Witter Bynner Poetry library within their larger library.
The Exodus Ensemble
Living Wages Living Poetry
The Exodus Ensemble is a trailblazing immersive theater company. The Foundation is providing support for the artistic compensation for the ensemble's 2026 season.
White Pine Press
Translation of 2 books of Faroese Poetry Paragraph
The Foundation will support the translation of 2 books of Faroese poetry.
VOX Press
Prison Writes Initiative
The Prison Writes Initiative is Mississippi’s only liberal arts based educational program for inmates in 13 prisons across the state. Their programs have served all sectors of the Mississippi inmate population: men, women, youth, the elderly and the disabled. After initial support of Poetry Workshops in seven facilities in the Mississippi Delta last year, this year the Foundation will increase it's support to include programming on Death Row and adjacent long-term segregation units at Parchman Farm, Mississippi's largest prison.
Santa Fe International Literary Festival
The Santa Fe International Literary Festival connects writers, readers, and thinkers—from around the world and close to home—in the celebration of words and story. The Foundation will be supporting their Young Writers and Readers programming at the 2026 festival.
The Society of the Muse of the Southwest (SOMOS)
Taos Poet Laureate Program
The Society of the Muse of the Southwest (SOMOS) supports and nurtures the literary arts, both oral and written, honoring cultural diversity in the Southwest. SOMOS will run a Poetry with Youth program with funding from the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry.
Alas De Agua Cultural Center
Barrio Writing School
The Foundation will fund a two-week writing program for 12 to 17 year old students.The program is dedicated to serving BIPOC students and meeting their creative needs.
