Residencies

What is a mini-residency?

This is a self-directed, scheduled time for a poet to sit, think, write, and spend time listening to the world. “Here, Hearing” residencies last two months. During these two months, a poet is provided a space in public for two hours a week where their creative time as a Citizen Poet takes place.  

How does it work?

Seven poets per year will be matched with host sites. These locations may be cafés, bookstores, waiting rooms, forest benches, porches, offices, care homes, etc. Hosts donate the use of the site. Citizen Poets receive a stipend of $200 to cover a snack and transportation costs while in residence for eight visits, or 16 hours, at the host site. Residency dates will be chosen according to mutually convenient schedule for the poet and host and will conclude by December at the latest.

Who can apply to become a Citizen Poet?

We welcome curious people of all ages, published or unpublished authors, people who have experience with poetry or who are ready to learn more on their own. Citizen Poets will be selected by the Poet Laureate and the Poetry Ambassadors on the merit of a short online application. We seek a diversity of applicants selected with recognition of factors including but not limited to geographic distribution, age, economic situation, race, culture, gender expression, sexuality, literary experience, linguistic background, and relationship to place. 

What happens during a mini-residency?

Citizen Poets are responsible for using this time and space as it suits them for reading, thinking, writing, listening to the environment, and dreaming. What they create during this residency belongs to them. 

Please note residencies are not staffed. Citizen Poets are responsible for their own care and time management. 

Prior to the first day of residency, a representative from the host site will connect with the Citizen Poet briefly about expectations, guidelines, or anything else that will make the residency comfortable and efficient for all involved. 

Duties

When “in residence” Citizen Poets wear a button that identifies them as such.

At the conclusion of the residency, Citizen Poets will send the Poet Laureate an audio recording accompanied by a transcription of the piece. The recording can be a poem written during the residency period or one by another poet that the Citizen Poet read during residency. Submissions must include author and copyright information. Citizen Poets may submit a short field recording of their residency environment. These recordings will be included in a digital playlist available to the public at the end of the year. Details for delivery will be communicated when the residency is confirmed. 

We ask that submissions are sensitive in both language and topic in a way that exhibits care for our diverse community. This includes asking permission before recording overheard conversations.

We rely on your clear and compassionate communication to make these residencies beneficial to all. 

Is there a stipend for poets?

Citizen Poets receive a stipend of $200 to cover transportation and a snack while in residency. 

Are host sites compensated?

Hosts donate use of the space and are credited on the Poet Laureate site and in social media as participants of the project. 

Tell me more about the buttons!

The buttons are given to each Citizen Poet to wear while in residency. And it’s great if they were them other times, too! Of course, you don’t need a button to allow you to write poetry, but it doesn’t hurt! Every Citizen Poet can “deputize” more poets: we handed out hundreds of these buttons over the course of 2025. Citizen Poet buttons change design every year. The 2025 button was designed by Gary Barwin using artwork by interdisciplinary artist Aileen Penner.

The 2026 button was created by Carolina Rodriguez. She attended the 2025 Here, Hearing final event and was moved to take part by making our 2026 button in three colours!

Carolina shared this bio: Raised in the Andes Mountains—where the thin air sharpens the senses and every heartbeat feels intentional—Carolina Rodriguez learned early to listen closely. Years of travel shaped a practice of patient observation of the quiet intelligence and subtle adaptations of living systems, where beauty and survival intertwine. Through CARO Studio, she explores how art can help us remember that understanding nature is also a way of understanding ourselves.

Look for these colourful coat-candies at any of our events and we’re happy to share them with you!