Poetry Out Loud

Event Details

The Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) conducts the state Poetry Out Loud recitation competition. Produced on a national scale by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, the program provides scholarships to high school students and cash to purchase poetry books to winners’ school libraries.

With assistance from Art Spark Texas, TCA organizes the statewide program, providing the schools with Poetry Out Loud lesson plans, resources, and the opportunity to work with Texas poets. Students choose poems to memorize and recite from the Poetry Out Loud anthology. Schools hold competitions to determine the student who will go on to the statewide competition.

The statewide winner represents Texas at the national competition in Washington, DC in late April. The event is free to attend in the Texas Spirit Theater.

Please note: Due to this day-long competition, regular film programming will not be shown in the Texas Spirit Theater.

Poetry Out Loud is a national project of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

​​School Programs are generously funded by Featured Sponsor The Marie M. and James H. Galloway Foundation and contributing sponsor The Honorable Kent R. Hance.

The Bullock Museum, a division of the Texas State Preservation Board, is funded by Museum members, donors, and patrons, the Texas State History Museum Foundation, and the State of Texas.