Poetic Logic: Elizabeth Alexander Is Transforming How a Major Philanthropic Foundation Operates

In 2017, Elizabeth Alexander, one of the most acclaimed poets of her generation, was in New Orleans for a site visit with Ford Foundation director Darren Walker and his board of trustees. At the time she was director of the Foundation’s Creativity and Free Expression program, focusing on arts and culture, journalism, and documentary filmmaking. Such excursions were not unusual, as trustees often visited places that the foundation had assisted, and in the years following Hurricane Katrina,