About

The Happy Valley Project is a poetic investigation of the relationship between housing foreclosures and financial speculation. Grappling with the high finance that furthers our economic turmoil seems like a good job for poetry. Poet Kaia Sand is collaborating with artists and economists on events throughout the fall 2010.

This project gathers poets, magicians, musicians, economists and others, using poetic form, video, installation pieces, economics lecture, and music.

A key format for the Happy Valley project is the Econ Salon, gatherings around economics in various cultural formats (bistros, studios, galleries, etc). The Econ Salons began during the early days of the TARP bailout for financial institutions in 2008 when so many of us were quickly learning about the financial mess (here is a description of past econ salons). Now, two years later, I am interested in furthering those efforts through a poetic practice that brings together vigilance, investigation, and conversation.

This project is funded by the Regional Arts and Culture Council.