University of Wisconsin - Extension

The Cultural Coalition of Wisconsin today announced the first in its series of live, moderated Web chats with people who play a significant role in Wisconsin culture, arts, history and humanities. Ellen Kort, the state poet laureate, will answer questions and offer thoughts during a chat from 7 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28 at http://www.portalwisconsin.org .

Kort, in the second year of her four-year appointment as the state¿s poet laureate, brings an energy and enthusiasm to spreading the power of poetry.

The Appleton resident travels the state offering readings and workshops and strives to inspire the poetry in everyone. She¿s published 12 books of poetry and her work has appeared in numerous anthologies. She also welcomes the chance to take poems off the written page and put them in places accessible to people. She herself has been known to write poems in chalk on the sidewalks of Appleton. Kort¿s work has also been adapted for the stage by the New York Dance Theater and used in art exhibits.

Organizers of www.portalwisconsin.org plan a live, moderated Web chat through the site once a week, beginning on April 3. The gap between the Feb. 28 chat and April 3 will allow chat organizers to refine the process and line up future participants, which are expected to include, Wisconsin Public Radio¿s Jean Feraca, officials from the Wisconsin Film Festival and experts in grant writing.

The site, launched in mid-January, is a non-profit, limitless place on the Web for users to discover Wisconsin¿s rich cultural and historic past, present and future. It will allow them to follow all of their own interests while visiting only one site.

In addition to the live chat feature, visitors to the site will always find:

• A calendar that is searchable by geographic location, key words and/or cultural and historic disciplines.

• Links for users who may want to sign up for educational courses in artistic pursuits or other humanities and history courses.

• An archive of various artistic disciplines.

• Streaming media to include things like a panoramic tour of the Oneida Nation Museum near Green Bay and a behind-the-scenes tour of Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio.

• Online contemporary artists¿ galleries to display a body of work.

The site is a project of the Cultural Coalition of Wisconsin, which is made up of seven statewide partners -- Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters; Wisconsin Arts Board; Wisconsin Historical Society; Wisconsin Humanities Council; Wisconsin Public Radio; Wisconsin Public Television; University of Wisconsin Extension- Continuing Education.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and University of Wisconsin-Extension are funding http://www.portalwisconsin.org">www.portalwisconsin.org.