Beyond Baroque: Beyond Baroque Fundraiser Dinner

Join us for an intimate dinner gathering to help us raise funds for our literary mission!

We're kicking off our fall fundraiser season with an intimate dinner gathering! The evening will be full of food, drinks, literature, art, and community. Listen to readings from poets Donna Spruijt-Metz, Shahé Mankerian, Rhonda Mitchell, Gustavo Hernandez, and Michelle Bitting. We'll have food-related writing prompts, special items, and an inspiring evening of sharing recipes, stories, and cultures.

The dinner will take place at a private residence in Los Angeles. Address will be shared with those who purchase a ticket. Limited seating, please arrive early. A purchased ticket does not guarantee a seat.

If you are unable to attend this fundraiser, please consider attending No Fest: Poetry Marathon Fundraiser, an all-day fundraiser with marathon-style poetry readings from the Beyond Baroque family and community, with a Book Fair, Open Mic, and more! You can also support Beyond Baroque by making a donation here, or by sponsoring our fundraiser. Please see below for sponsorship tiers and perks.

Sponsorships
Icon: $2,500 - 4 free tickets
Curator: $1,000 - 3 free tickets
Debut: $500 - 2 free tickets
Emerging: $250 - 1 free ticket

About the authors
Gustavo Hernandez is the author of the poetry collections Bachelor—a finalist for the 2026 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry—and Flower Grand First. His work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Slowdown Podcast, and The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. In January 2024, Hernandez was appointed Poet Laureate of Orange County, California. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico and was raised in Santa Ana, California, where he still resides.
Donna Spruijt-Metz’s books include To Phrase a Prayer for Peace (2025, Wildhouse Press), General Release from the Beginning of the World, And Scuttle My Balloon (with Flower Conroy), and Wu Wei Eats an Egg (Lucas Hirsch in translation). Her poems have appeared in Poem-a-day, Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, The Slowdown, and elsewhere. She’s an emeritus psychology professor, MacDowell fellow, rabbinical school drop-out, former classical flutist, and briefly, a rock and roll bassist. She gets restless.

Michelle Bitting was recently named an Academy of American Poets 2026-2027 Laureate Fellow and a 2026 City of L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs Individual Master Artist Project Grantee. She is the author of seven poetry collections, including Nightmares & Miracles, winner of the Wilder Prize. Her poem “Twyla” was commissioned by the City of L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs for the Paris/L.A. Olympiad cultural exchange. In 2026, her Poem-Play was named runner up in The Pomegranate London Poem-Play Contest and was performed at The Cockpit Theater by Théâtre Volière in London. She won the 2025 Banyan Review Poetry Prize, and her latest collection Ruined Beauty was published by Walton Well Press in June, 2026. Her poetry appears on the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day. Bitting and is writing a hybrid novel that centers around Los Angeles and her stage and screen actor great grandmother. She is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Literature at Loyola Marymount University.

Shahé Mankerian is the principal and 8th grade English teacher at St. Gregory Hovsepian School in Pasadena, California, and serves as Director of Mentorship at the International Armenian Literary Alliance (IALA). In August 2026, he was appointed Co-Poet Laureate of Altadena, where he is serving a two-year term. A lifelong educator and advocate for the literary arts, he previously co-directed the Los Angeles Writing Project and received the BRAVO Award from the Los Angeles Music Center in recognition of his innovative contributions to arts education. In 2021, Mankerian’s debut poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, was published by Fly on the Wall Press in the United Kingdom. History of Forgetfulness (2021) chronicles a childhood in Lebanon during its civil war. Both The Los Angeles Review and The Los Angeles Review of Books have highlighted his work for its blend of innocence and intense brutality. The collection was a semifinalist for the Khayrallah Prize and a finalist for several notable awards, including the Bibby First Book Competition, the Crab Orchard Poetry Open Competition, the Julie Suk Award, the Quercus Review Press Poetry Book Award, and the White Pine Press Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared widely in literary journals.

Rhonda Mitchell, Altadena Poet Laureate for Community Events, is rooted in the stories and rhythms of her neighborhood, the Crenshaw District. She writes because she learned firsthand that when people create together, they are better equipped to advocate for their communities and harder to erase. A 30-year veteran of public service and the Anansi Writers Workshop, she has spent her life at the intersection of literacy, the arts, and community work. That commitment continues to shape every page she writes. Her work has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Voices of Leimert Park, and Essence Magazine. She has completed a hybrid collection of short stories and poems. A portrait of a community that has always known its worth.

About Beyond Baroque
Beyond Baroque is one of the United States' leading independent Literary | Arts Centers and public spaces dedicated to expanding the public's knowledge of poetry, literature and art through cultural events and community interaction. Founded in 1968 as an experimental literary magazine, Beyond Baroque is based out of the original City Hall building in Venice, California. The Center offers a diverse variety of literary and arts programming including readings and workshops. The building also houses a bookstore with a large collection of new poetry books for sale.