Barrie’s poet laureate will be getting a much-needed funding boost after city councillors voted to support her push for more money Wednesday, but it also comes with changes.
Barrie city councillors voted seven to four in favour of supporting a request to increase the role’s annual stipend to $2,500, with an additional budget for hosting events.
The funding means the annual stipend will increase from $1,000 to $2,500 a year, with an additional $1,500 for public events and up to $250 for travel-related expenses. Previously the poet laureate did not have any additional funds for events.
In January, Tyneisha Ternent, Barrie’s fourth poet laureate, spoke to Global about the need for more financial support for the role to bring it more in line with what other communities of similar sizes were offering.
“Poet laureate is a prestigious title. It’s an honour, and I want to be the best poet laureate that I can be, and I just need a little bit more to work with, to do an even better job,” she said in January.
Other changes to the roll included lowering the position’s term from 4 years to 2 years, starting with the next council term.
Councillors also voted to remove the chief librarian or library CAO, a poet laureate from another community, and a municipal culture staff member from the poet laureate selection committee and replace them with three members of council.
Amy Courser, Barrie’s Ward 4 councillor, fought this, instead suggesting that they add two councillors instead of removing the three community positions, but her motion was defeated.
The poet laureate is an honorary designation that champions poetry, language, and the arts by raising it’s profile through public engagements and civic interactions. The poet laureate acts as a literary ambassador and works to educate and promote poetry and the literary arts in Barrie.
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