The Delaware Division of the Arts is thrilled to announce the 2025 teaching artists for Poetry Out Loud, the dynamic national recitation program that inspires high school students to engage with poetry through performance. This year, we are honored to welcome three distinguished poets and educators – Dr. JoAnn Balingit, Dana Kinsey, and Dennis Spence – each bringing their unique artistry, experience, and passion for empowering young voices.

From inspiring personal stories to decades of creative work, these artists are united by a belief in poetry’s power to connect, heal, and transform. Throughout the school year, they will guide students across Delaware in exploring language, building confidence, and discovering their own voices.

A woman with long dark hair wearing a green top and a white embroidered floral blouse, smiling in front of a step-and-repeat banner with the Texas Public Radio logo in purple.Dr. JoAnn Balingit

Writer, educator, and community arts advocate JoAnn Balingit served as Delaware’s poet laureate from 2007 to 2015. Her poems and essays often reflect on family love and hardship, her relationship to ancestors, and the natural world. A Fulbright Scholar, she traveled to the Philippines in 2024 to deepen her understanding of Kapampángan culture, language, and heritage.

For Dr. Balingit, poetry is a way to open conversations about what we feel and who we are:

“Poetry gifts us a powerful language to discover and talk about our feelings. I love writing, teaching, sharing, performing and promoting poems and poets, especially in the public schools with all ages of students, because all poems are in some way about love. And to quote bell hooks, ‘The practice of love is the most powerful antidote to the politics of domination.’”

A woman with long, wavy red hair wearing a black off-the-shoulder dress, bright red tassel earrings, and a matching ring. She smiles while leaning against a textured metal wall in warm sunlight.Dana Kinsey

Dana Kinsey, Lancaster City Poet Laureate, is a multi-talented spoken word artist, actor, director, teacher, and freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Fledgling Rag, SWWIM, SoFloPoJo, ONE ART, and many other publications. Her play WaterRise was produced at the Gene Frankel Theatre and adapted into a short film by Sagesse Productions. She is the author of the chapbook Mixtape Venus and the forthcoming collection Before & Afterglows.

For Dana, poetry is both a confidante and a bridge:

“My best friend Poetry explores my deepest thoughts, hears my hidden fears, and communicates my boldest longings… Poetry unites people of all ages and minds. It is a universal language and legacy, rich with imagery and wisdom. Discovering, analyzing, and reciting poems empowers youth. When one is alone on stage with a microphone, words become sacred. The Poetry Out Loud experience changes students; I’ve witnessed its transformative powers over and over again.”

A bearded man wearing glasses and a royal blue shirt with repeated white text reading “MY VOICE MY POWER” in various arrangements. He stands in front of a retro-style silver microphone with a dark industrial ceiling in the background.Dennis Spence

For over 20 years, Dennis Spence has been a dedicated advocate for spoken word and the arts community in Dover, Delaware. His mission is to make the arts more relevant and accessible, creating safe spaces for poets of all ages, races, and styles to share their work. Through his performances and mentorship, he invites audiences to journey beyond the demands of everyday life into spaces of imagination and reflection.

For Dennis, poetry is freedom:

“Poetry means Autonomy to me. A freedom that no one has to know while at the same time being a freedom that everyone has to feel… Poetry is a sanctuary for youth to truly say what they are feeling and they can lock those words in their hearts or use those words to touch the hearts of others.”

Inspiring the Next Generation of Poets

As teaching artists, JoAnn, Dana, and Dennis will work closely with Delaware educators and students, bringing their experience and passion into classrooms and workshops across the state. Their work will help students not only prepare for Poetry Out Loud competitions, but also develop a lifelong appreciation for the art form.

Poetry Out Loud is a partnership between the Delaware Division of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation. The program encourages youth to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition – building public speaking skills and confidence along the way.

To learn more about Poetry Out Loud in Delaware, including how your school can participate, visit arts.delaware.gov/poetry-out-loud.