Power of Culture Blog
Apply to Become Massachusetts’ First Poet Laureate
This new, honorary position is intended to promote poetry and creative expression across the state
Office of Governor Maura Healey and Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll
Today, at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll announced that Regie Gibson has been selected to serve as Massachusetts Inaugural Poet Laureate. This selection follows an exhaustive search with more than a hundred applicants designed to identify a poet who will amplify poetry and creative expression across Massachusetts.
“Regie Gibson is a talented poet with a proven commitment to community engagement and a deep appreciation for the history, beauty and resilience of our state and our people. He sees his poetry as a means of bringing people together, finding common ground and building stronger communities,” said Governor Maura Healey. “We congratulate him on his many accomplishments and for being named Massachusetts’ first-ever Poet Laureate, and we extend our deep thanks to Michael Bobbitt, the Mass Cultural Council and the advisory Poet Laureate Nominating Committee for their work to make this special new tradition possible.”
“Our administration has been committed to supporting arts and culture across Massachusetts, and today’s announcement is an exciting step toward promoting creative expression from the Berkshires to the Cape,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “We’re lucky to have Regie Gibson step into this role and work with us to organize public readings across Massachusetts and foster a robust creative economy.”
Regie Gibson is an accomplished poet who currently serves as the Co-Artistic Director of Pedagogy at the Arts for Social Change. He is also an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches courses on performance and spoken word poetry, and an Instructor at Clark University in Worcester, where he teaches the introduction to poetry. His poems for public occasions engage complex historical and social issues, inviting audiences into the dialogue with hope and often humor. He is intentional about using poetry to create common ground and foster social cohesion. He holds a master’s in fine arts in Creative Writing from New England College and lives in Lexington.
Mr. Gibson will encourage the appreciation of poetry and creative expression across Massachusetts, organizing and attending public readings and other statewide literary and cultural events in different regions, composing poetry for ceremonial occasions, and advising the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on an outreach program for schools focused on the celebration and advancement of poetry.
“Through engaging with poetry we get a clearer sense of our own thoughts, feelings, and inner music – but also, our inspirations, aspirations and desperations – not only OURS, but of many who have walked before us – and, many who will walk after. Poetry, for me, is a sustained dialogue with ourselves across time. At a time when arts funding is being curtailed and so many civic programs are on the chopping block, I am so gratified to be in a state that believes poetry is not only a worthy endeavor-but a civic good,” said the Poet Laureate Regie Gibson. “As Massachusetts inaugural Poet Laureate, I see it as my charge to do all I can to make sure there will be another and another and another!”
The Executive Order established an advisory Poet Laureate Nominating Committee, which reviewed over 100 applications for the role and submitted recommendations to the Governor.
“All of us at Mass Cultural Council are overjoyed to celebrate Regie Gibson as the Commonwealth’s first official Poet Laureate,” said Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council. “This groundbreaking appointment by Governor Healey is a triumphant moment for the cultural sector in Massachusetts and honors the transformative power of poetry and its place at the heart of civic life. We are deeply proud to have partnered with the Healey-Driscoll Administration and Mass Humanities to bring this long-awaited role to fruition. Regie is an extraordinary talent whose voice resonates with truth, creativity, and hope. We can’t wait to see the impact he will have in communities statewide, and we look forward to supporting his journey as our inaugural Poet Laureate.”
“Poets allow us to dream and inspire us to reckon with our past, interpret the present, and imagine new futures,” said Brian Boyles, executive director of Mass Humanities. “In a state blessed with diverse and vibrant literary traditions that continue to shape the world, we applaud Governor Healey for selecting Regie Gibson, whose craft and care for the poetry community are truly unique, as our first poet laureate. Our board and staff thank Gov. Healey and our partners at Mass Cultural Council for the collaboration and effort that led to this milestone, and we are grateful to the many outstanding poets who offered their talents for this role.”
This announcement coincides with the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Salem at the Peabody Essex Museum, which brings together over 150 poets throughout the weekend to celebrate and uplift poetry. The festival includes readings, panel discussions, workshops, performances, open mics, multimedia events and more.
“We are honored that the Peabody Essex Museum could serve as the launchpad for this historic moment in Massachusetts’ cultural life,” said Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Executive Director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum. “Poetry has the unique power to connect hearts and minds, and to elevate the everyday into something extraordinary. The appointment of our state’s first Poet Laureate affirms the essential role that the arts—and artists—play in fostering community, empathy and shared understanding.
“Mass Poetry applauds Governor Healey for establishing the Massachusetts Poet Laureate post in collaboration with the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Mass Humanities. Her actions reflect the importance and centrality of poetry and literature in the Commonwealth, at a time when poetry readership and engagement has peaked,” said Daniel Johnson, Executive Director of Mass Poetry. “We turn to poets and poetry for solace, self-understanding, song in the face of hardship, and so much more. We’re excited to collaborate with the new Massachusetts Poet Laureate and extend our heartiest congratulations. We’d like to invite everyone in the Commonwealth to join us at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival on May 30 – June 1 in Salem, MA.”
“What a joy to have this historic announcement at the start of the 2025 Massachusetts Poetry Festival! The Governor’s establishment of a State Poet Laureate highlights our distinguished literary tradition in the Commonwealth, from America’s very first poet Anne Bradstreet to countless contemporary luminaries like our new laureate,” Festival Director 2025 Massachusetts Poetry Festival presented by Mass Poetry M.P. Carver. “It also reaffirms our state’s position as a center of this great art for our nation, now and into the future!”
Since taking office, Governor Healey has prioritized investing in and celebrating the arts. Governor Healey expanded the art on display in the Governor’s office, last year adding Black Tie by Robert T. Freeman and At the Tremont Street Car Barns by Allan Rohan Crite from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The office also has on loan from the museum, Early Summer by J. Appleton Brown, Spring Hillside by J. J. Enneking, George Washington by Francis Alexander, Landscape by Leslie Prince Thompson and Showery May Morning, by J. Appleton Brown. Last year, the Governor’s office began hosting a temporary exhibition in the reception area in partnership with Mass Cultural Council celebrating Black History, Native American Heritage, Cape & Islands, Climate Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Women Veterans and Mental Health Awareness.
