Dear TLAers,

I fell in love with poetry when I was 14, and it saved my life. It wasn’t just filling up journals that gave me meaning, vitality, and sometimes even joy in a traumatic time, but what happened when good witnesses found me and my writing. Having someone truly “get us” — who we are, what we have to say, and what we’re capable of — is at the heart of Transformative Language Arts and this emerging field, profession, and practice.

Like you, I’ve witnessed the continual miracles TLA brings to our lives. That’s why I’m writing you to ask for your support for the TLA Network today, an organization I helped found with others who resonate with writing, storytelling, theater, and other arts for social and personal transformation. Since we launched in 2005, we’ve become a thriving gathering place for people called to teach, heal, advocate, facilitate, organize, and guide people in our ailing world. 

With Grace Paley at the 2006 Power of Words conference

That’s why I’m writing you to ask for your support for theTLA Network today, an organization I helped found with others who resonate with writing, storytelling, theater, and other arts for social and personal transformation. Since we launched in 2005, we’ve become a thriving gathering place for people called to teach, heal, advocate, facilitate, organize, and guide people in our ailing world. 

• We offer classes to help us amplify our voices and clarify our visions through writing, storytelling, theater, and other arts. 
• Our 17th annual Power of Words conference, featuring Joy Harjo, will bring us together to learn from each other and find greater ways to sustain our work and ourselves. 
• The TLA Foundations certification is a deep immersion into TLA theory and practice. 
• Your Right Livelihood, an intensive training, helps people in the arts, healing arts and social change arts find ways to make a living and a difference. 
• Our blog and creative, professional journal, Chrysalis, give us a forum to share our experiences, art, and scholarship. 

In the last year, we’ve leapt forward with a wonderful half-time managing director, Hanne Weedon. We’ve strengthened our council, the governing body for TLAN, through the leadership of Liz Burke-Cravens. Many of us feel like we’re on the cusp of significant growth at a time when it’s even more important for people to use their voices for positive change, including how the arts can bridge polarized communities.

Your contribution can bolster scholarships for our conference, classes, trainings, and provide general support for us to grow our capacity to do good in the world. Please also consider, if you haven’t already, renewing your membership or joining us. You can contribute easily and quickly right here.

Wishing us all the power of words for a better world,

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg

P.S. If you have a birthday coming up and you’re on Facebook, how about birthday fundraiser for TLAN (we’re part of the Network for Good organizations)?