The People’s State of the Union is an annual civic ritual and participatory arts project that  has two main parts: Story Circles across the nation, and a collaboratively composed Poetic Address to the Nation. The USDAC offers toolkits and online trainings to support anyone hosting a Story Circle, bringing people together to share stories from their own experience. Stories are uploaded to an online story portal where they can be shared and browsed. Then—inspired by these stories—an invited group of poets collaboratively composes the Poetic Address to the Nation, performed and broadcast live. This year, Story Circles will take place nationwide from January 27-February 5, 2017. The Poetic Address will be hosted by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Saturday, March 11, 2017. Learn more: www.usdac.us/psotu