The Cabin faced major challenges in 2020 due to the pandemic but was able to adapt its programs to online formats. Virtual events saw increased participation. Funding increased for writing workshops and scholarships. The Cabin supported writers through relief grants and published work in its anthology. Overall, the organization emerged strong despite difficulties of the year.
2. The Cabin’s programs faced a steep challenge in 2020. Could we still connect with our
members while remaining six feet apart? How would we fulfill our mission to forge
community through the voices of all readers, writers, and learners, when our
communities were under lockdown?
The answer was persistence, flexibility, and a little duct tape. It meant shortening our
Writers in the Schools program last spring but paying our teaching-writers through the
end of the semester. It meant cancelling our popular Summer Writing Camps program
while offering Writer Relief Grants and a Writers at Home series to support our
teaching-writers. It meant planning a remote gala, including a way to deliver 200
individual meals and stacks of books to our generous patrons in a single night.
But in the end, it was worth the long days and dropped Zoom calls. Heading into 2021,
our programs remain strong, our staff remains whole, and our members made a
difficult year one of our most inspiring. In 2020, a few of our by-the-numbers program
highlights include:
BY THE
NUMBERS.
172%
Percentage increase in scholarships given
for The Cabin’s Writing Workshops (now
remote) over the same period a year prior.
Workshop enrollees also jumped by 41%
over the same period.
3,100
Books purchased via our local independent
bookstore, Rediscovered Books, and given to
Cabin members as part of our Readings &
Conversations, Annual Gala, and Words
Progress Administration programs.
5,466
Miles the furthest virtual attendee “traveled” to view
The Cabin’s Words Progress Administration event. A
pay-what-you-can public reading extravaganza, over
500 attendees joined from their homes across
Boise, in addition to places like California, Canada,
New York, Japan, and everywhere in between
3. $14,400
Dollars given out to working writers as part of
The Cabin’s Writer Relief Grants. A program
created in response to the financial hardship
created by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Cabin
was able to provide 18 working writers with
economic relief for rent, groceries, and other
basic necessities.
769
Readings & Conversations ticket-holders
who braved the transition to an online
format and tuned in for Barbara Kingsolver
in September, who gave a reading and
answered questions from her porch in
Virginia.
152
Submissions to The Cabin’s Writers in the
Attic series. Hewing to the publication’s
2020 theme – “Apple” – 32 writers had
their work showcased in the annual
anthology (and were invited to our first-
ever virtual book launch in August).
$14,400
Authors and artists who participated in The Cabin’s
Annual Gala and Words Progress Administration
event. The virtual event featured readings by award-
winning writers like Roxane Gay and George Saunders,
animated poems by Writers in the Schools students, a
song by Josh Ritter, teaching-writer work
accompanied by dance and music, an interview with
bestselling author John Grisham, and a tour of a
castle overlooking Dublin by author Colum McCann.
34
Workshops, events, and other programs
The Cabin transitioned to online/virtual
offerings after statewide health orders
prevented safely meeting in-person.
2
Juvenile detention centers where The
Cabin’s teaching-writers worked diligently
with administrators to make sure Writers
in the Schools was still available to
students, even during a pandemic.
3
Songs performed by Patti Smith during her
Readings & Conversations appearance in October.
The Cabin’s first R&C guest to boast both a National
Book Award and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction,
Smith joined virtually from her studio in New York
as our second remote author (after Barbara
Kingsolver in September).
4. The Cabin’s programs faced a steep challenge in 2020. Could we still connect with our
members while remaining six feet apart? How would we fulfill our mission to forge
community through the voices of all readers, writers, and learners, when our
communities were under lockdown?
The answer was persistence, flexibility, and a little duct tape. It meant shortening our
Writers in the Schools program last spring but paying our teaching-writers through the
end of the semester. It meant cancelling our popular Summer Writing Camps program
while offering Writer Relief Grants and a Writers at Home series to support our
teaching-writers. It meant planning a remote gala, including a way to deliver 200
individual meals and stacks of books to our generous patrons in a single night.
But in the end, it was worth the long days and dropped Zoom calls. Heading into 2021,
our programs remain strong, our staff remains whole, and our members made a
difficult year one of our most inspiring. In 2020, a few of our by-the-numbers program
highlights include:
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- Jane Doe
Our Commitment
to Equity.
Read it Here
