Bill Ivey, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, joined US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and three Pulitzer Prize-winning poets at a ceremony and video premiere showcasing the Favorite Poem Project April 3. The event took place at the Library of Congress9 Coolidge Auditorium in the Thomas Jefferson Building where Ivey read one of his favorite poems. The NEA, major funder of the project, contributed $500,000 for its support.

Robert Pinsky, professor of English and creative writing at Boston University, launched the Favorite Poem Project in April 1998 with a national call for submissions. The project has resulted in an audio and video archive of hundreds of Americans of all ages and backgrounds reading aloud their favorite poems. Samples of this archive can be viewed at www.favoritepoem.org/archive/index.html. The first 50 audio and video recordings were officially presented to the Library of Congress' Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature. 

"The video archive is dramatic and gripping beyond my hopes and expectations," Pinksy said. "My dearest hope is that this will affect the way poetry is taught in schools. If our generation decides the young can do without great works of art, we will be cursed."

The Favorite Poem Project has been designated an Official Millennium Project by the White House Millennium Council. Partners in the project are Boston University, the Library of Congress and the New England Foundation for the Arts. Speaking of the archive, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said, "Historians in the future will consult this record of recitation for insight into the inner lives of our citizens at the turn of the millennium. We are grateful for the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, which made this project possible."

In addition to the video screening and archive presentation, Pulitzer Prize winning poets and NEA literature fellowship recipients Rita Dove, Louise Gl|ck and W.S. Merwin made presentations.

Archive segments will appear in the coming months on the PBS program The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The event was simulcast on the Library of Congress web site at www.loc.gov. For more information on the Favorite Poem Project visit www.favoritepoem.org.