Philanthropy Friday: A Poem of Inspiration

Barbara Fant performs Today Beginning Again –“For Columbus” at the Ohio Theatre.

Barbara Fant, an extremely talented and community-minded Columbus artist, was commissioned by The Columbus Foundation to create a spoken-word piece to celebrate and reflect on Columbus’ Bicentennial. The piece, Today Beginning Again– “For Columbus,” premiered at the Foundation on February 14, 2012, the city’s 200th birthday. Most recently, Barbara preformed the work at the Ohio Theatre during the Bicentennial State of the City Address. Listen to the exciting piece below and also get a behind-the-scenes look at her artistic process.

Fant, originally from Youngstown, is a performance poet and an artist facilitator. She graduated in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in English from Ohio Dominican University. She has been on three National Poetry slam teams from Columbus and has represented the city in four Individual National and World Poetry Slam competitions. Her first poetry collection, Paint, Inside Out was released in April of 2010, from Penmanship Books of New York City when she was awarded The Cora Craig Award for Young Women Authors. She is a former employee of Huckleberry House and Art for a Child’s Safe America, working in prisons, correctional juvenile facilities, and elementary schools teaching art as a form of healing. She is also a member of Transit Arts, ArtFluential of REACH communications, and has also been a regular performer on the radio show Street Soldiers.

More information about local nonprofits is available 24/7 through the Foundation’s online resource, PowerPhilanthropy, which is available to everyone who wants to be more informed about the nonprofits they care about. PowerPhilanthropy makes it easy to donate to the causes you care about at www.columbusfoundation.org/p2/.

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