Jessica M. Wilson Cárdenas
Poet | Educator | Activist
Jessica is an organizer and participant of Los Angeles' vibrant creative community! She takes her poetry to the people in all capacities she can conceive.
Shown here, we see Jessica in a collage of faces from the nuturing collective of artists at NEW EARTH, and organization devoted to healing our youth, and freeing them from the cylces of incarceration. Jessica is the 2nd from the left, top row in this photo of community that she is proud to be a part of as a Poetry Teacher and Mentor to our youth in the F.L.O.W. program.
Founded in 2009, Jessica started the Los Angeles Poet Society as a means to make transparent the creative communities of Los Angeles. She wanted to unite the Poets, Writers, Publishers, Booksellers, and Artists into a unified literary network.
7 years later, LAPS is a fully running Community Organization in LA, with tremendous partnerships with LA's literary and cultural centers, including The World Stage, Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural, and the McGroarty Arts Center. LAPS Outreach also includes an offering of 75 open mic events a year, with emphasis on Creative Aging for its Senior Advocacy program, Bilingual Poetry Workshops for all ages, and partnering with California Poets in the Schools providing youth poetry workshops.
With California Poets in the Schools we are doing more than teaching literacy, we are teaching vocal empowerment in children that will follow them for a lifetime!
CPITS also publishes over 150 Youth Poets a year in an annual anthology. It's beautiful to see kids excited about having their words in print, published and immortalized!
Since the fall of 2012, Jessica has been an active Poet Teacher with the oldest non-profit organization in the state of California, with a sole mission of service the children of CA with the art of poetry. Members of CPITS include the US Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, California's Poet Laureate. Al Young, and many published Poets such as Jackie Hallerberg, John Oliver Simon, Daryl Ngee Chin, and Claudia Poquoc.
In 2014, Jessica became the Area Coordinator for Los Angeles County, onboarding new Poet Teachers and managing new opportunities for CPITS. The beauty of a CPITS Poetry Residency is that it is very flexible, serving K-12 grade, and residing in the classroom and beyond!
Jessica has led residencies at Lo-Inyo Elementary in Lone Pine, CA, Youth Poetry at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center (Venice, CA), a Bilingual Youth Poetry Workshop at Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural and Bookstore, (Sylmar, CA), workshops at the Santa Monica Public Library, Arcadia Public Library, a 6-session series at Center for the Arts Ealge Rock, Career Day at Sequoia Middle School, (Fontana, CA), she has taught at Vista Middle School, (Panorama City, CA), Sylmar High School, Crossroads High School, and a special poetry therapy series at Hathaway-Sycamores Children & Family Center, (Highland Park, CA).