Binghamton Writers Project, a literacy service program of the Binghamton Center for Writers at Binghamton University, hosted “A Feast of Words” — a poetry workshop and open mic event — last Sunday at the University Downtown Center.

The event was open to the public and included a guided poetry workshop with two writers, followed by an open mic and reception where community members were invited to share their own poetry and short prose.

“The Binghamton Writers Project was formerly the Binghamton Poetry Project, established twelve years ago by former Ph.D. student, Nicole Santalucia,” Tina Chang, the director of creative writing and an English professor at BU, wrote in an email. “This event was created to celebrate the Project’s over decade-long commitment to the Binghamton community and to offer recognition to its work to foster creativity, understanding, and connection.”

The event started with a poetry workshop led by Sam Corradetti, a second-year Ph.D. student studying English, and Matthew Midgett, a third-year Ph.D. student studying English. The workshop focused on ekphrasis poetry — a type of poetry that focuses on the description of art.

“You can be imagining yourself as part of the narrative,” Midgett said. “You can be adding onto the narrative that you’re seeing there. It’s just making an attempt to build some sort of relationship with your own words and another piece of art.”

The workshop began with an audience examination of “Nighthawks,” a painting by Edward Hopper. Then, an ekphrastic poem based on this painting titled, “A Midnight Diner by Edward Hopper” by David Ray, was read.

This allowed the audience to compare interpretations and examine the freedom this form of poetry allows before writing their ekphrastic poems based on public art in Binghamton. Photographs of four art pieces — two murals and two sculptures — located in Downtown Binghamton were shown for audience members to practice their ekphrasis.

The second phase of the event — the open mic and reception, was hosted by Jordan Franklin, a third-year Ph.D. student studying English, who has previous experience as an emcee.

Attendees were invited to share works of poetry and short prose, including what was written in the workshop, written before the event or works of other writers that they wanted to share. Finally, the event ended with a book raffle.

“What makes all Binghamton Writers Project events unique is the way they cross-pollinate the off-campus and on-campus writing communities,” Jen DeGregorio, the associate director of creative writing, wrote in an email. “So often universities are silos, never managing to authentically engage with the residents of surrounding cities and towns. But BWP, originally the Binghamton Poetry Project, was envisioned to create a bridge between the graduate-student writers studying at Binghamton University and the writers living in Binghamton and the surrounding region by offering opportunities to work together in a formal writing practice and to gather for sharing creative work.”

However, this event was different from the usual events hosted by the Writers Project, as it was announced that it was the last event before the group will take a hiatus for the spring semester. The project plans to use next semester to discuss new writing initiatives to bring to BU students and community members and, hopefully, return stronger than ever next fall.

Though the Writers Project may not be active next semester, it does not mean the community it fostered has to disappear. The event ended with Franklin encouraging attendees to connect and form groups to continue to share work and build creative writing skills.

“I hope attendees will feel inspired and see themselves as part of a larger community of writers living in and around Binghamton,” DeGregorio wrote. “I hope they went home feeling empowered and excited to keep writing and sharing their work with others. They should know that their voices matter.”