By CGN Staff

Michelle T. Boone, whose career has helped shape Chicago’s cultural landscape, has announced her retirement as president and CEO of the Poetry Foundation. She will remain through the end of 2027 while the organization searches for her successor.

Before joining the Foundation in May 2021, Boone served as Chicago’s cultural commissioner, helping develop the Chicago Cultural Plan and launch the Chicago Architecture Biennial. She also held leadership positions at Navy Pier and the Joyce Foundation.

The Foundation’s first woman and first Black leader, Boone oversaw its transformation into a major national grantmaker. Since 2021, it has awarded $17 million to nonprofit literary arts organizations, publishers and presses. Her tenure also included hiring Adrian Matejka as Poetry magazine’s first Black editor-in-chief and advocating for Chicago’s first poet laureate, avery r. young, appointed in 2023.

“Michelle’s efforts made it possible for Chicago to establish a poet laureateship,” young said.

Boone took the helm of the Chicago-based foundation in May 2021, during a period of historic volatility and uncertainty. The Foundation’s first woman and first Black leader, Boone quickly responded to the field’s urgent calls for more resources for poetry and poets. Under her leadership, Poetry magazine embraced a new commitment to publishing more diverse poets, the Foundation introduced significant new awards, and the organization became a funding powerhouse for the literary arts in the United States, granting $17 million since 2021 to nonprofit literary arts organizations, publishers, and presses.

“Michelle’s tenacity and deep relationships across the arts allowed the Poetry Foundation to respond to the poetry community’s needs with real resources,” said Gwendolyn Perry Davis, chair of the Poetry Foundation board of trustees. “She brought the board a bold vision for what the Foundation could be, and under her leadership, its impact and relevance have grown beyond what we could have imagined. We are grateful for her service and for the strong position she will hand to her successor.”

“I have had the privilege of working alongside a deeply committed board and talented staff to lead the Poetry Foundation into a new era of amplifying poetry and celebrating poets,” said Boone. “The legacy of service to the literary arts has been expanded in meaningful ways, and now it’s time for new leadership to take this work to the next level as the Foundation approaches its 25th anniversary.” 

Boone plans to continue serving on arts organization boards after retiring, extending a career connecting artists, institutions and philanthropic support in Chicago and beyond.

Read the full announcement from the Poetry Foundation.