Write Out Loud
Write Out Loud is a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, founded in 2007, that presents live literary performances and educational storytelling programs—Story Concerts, Poetry Out Loud, Read! Imagine! Create!, and Stories for Seniors—serving students, seniors, and general audiences across San Diego County through professional actors and original scripts.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersSan Diego, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Write Out Loud does
Write Out Loud is a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization founded in 2007 whose core activity is presenting literature aloud to audiences of all ages through professional theatrical performance. The organization produces Story Concerts, a ticketed six-show season at the Dottie Studio Theater in Liberty Station featuring curated short stories, poetry, and music, and operates a portfolio of community programs including Stories for Seniors (monthly readings at retirement and assisted living facilities), PoeFest (Edgar Allan Poe festival at Villa Montezuma Museum), American Literary Heroes living-history performances tied to the America250 celebration, and a Kamishibai Storybox program using Japanese illustrated storytelling boards. Educational programming includes the national Poetry Out Loud competition for San Diego County high school students, Read! Imagine! Create! (NEA Big Read) for middle and high schoolers producing visual, literary, performance, and media art, and Let Your Voice Be Heard for K-12 poetry submissions.
The organization runs on a hybrid revenue model combining tax-deductible donations, ticket sales through the TicketSpice platform, and a diversified base of institutional grants and corporate sponsorships from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, Prebys Foundation, Parker Foundation, Dr. Seuss Fund at San Diego Foundation, California Humanities, and San Diego Kiwanis Foundation. Operations are supported by two full-time staff—Co-Founder and Artistic Director Veronica Murphy and Education Coordinator Rachael VanWormer—alongside Co-Founder and Executive Director Walter Ritter and a network of volunteers and contracted performers. Write Out Loud's underlying "technology" is its repertoire of original commissioned scripts (including Ripples From Walden Pond by Richard Platt) performed by credentialed professional actors across venues spanning public libraries, K-12 schools, theaters, and senior care facilities throughout San Diego County.
Write Out Loud firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Write Out Loud
- Legal name
- Write Out Loud
- Website
- https://writeoutloudsd.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Write Out Loud is a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, founded in 2007, that presents live literary performances and educational storytelling programs—Story Concerts, Poetry Out Loud, Read! Imagine! Create!, and Stories for Seniors—serving students, seniors, and general audiences across San Diego County through professional actors and original scripts.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Write Out Loud industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Literary Arts Education and Performance
- NAICS
- Fine Arts Schools (61161), Performing Arts Companies (7111), Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers (711510)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Creative Writing & Storytelling (Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting) (EDAMAAAI)
Keywords
Where Write Out Loud is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Diego
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Write Out Loud business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Donations and Contributions: Tax-deductible contributions from individuals supporting literary arts programming. Write Out Loud IRS Tax ID: 23-7257065.
- Ticket Sales: Story Concert Season 20 tickets sold through TicketSpice platform. Six-show season plus Festival of American Literary Heroes at $40 per ticket.
- Government and Foundation Grants: Funding from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA Big Read), California Arts Council, City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, and private foundations including Prebys Foundation, Parker Foundation, Dr. Seuss Fund.
- Corporate Sponsorships: Sponsorships for specific programs and events, including Festival of American Literary Heroes as part of America250 celebration.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | One-time | Festival of American Literary Heroes - Full Day Pass |
| Subscription | Annual | Story Concert Season 20 - Six Show Season |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Write Out Loud product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Write Out Loud is a San Diego-based nonprofit that produces live, literature-based performances and educational storytelling programs for audiences across all age groups. Its core offering centers on Story Concerts — themed seasonal readings of curated short stories, poetry, and music by professional actors — alongside K-12 educational programs (Poetry Out Loud competition, Read! Imagine! Create!, Let Your Voice Be Heard, Kamishibai Storybox), senior outreach (Stories for Seniors), and themed festivals (PoeFest, Festival of American Literary Heroes, American Literary Heroes character performances). Programs are delivered live in theaters, libraries, schools, and senior facilities across San Diego County, with select content also distributed digitally via YouTube.
Product overview
Write Out Loud is a San Diego-based nonprofit arts organization offering a diverse portfolio of literary programs centered on reading literature aloud to audiences of all ages. Their core offerings include Story Concerts (a six-show seasonal performance series featuring professional actors reading curated stories and poetry), educational programs (Poetry Out Loud competition for high school students, Read! Imagine! Create! NEA Big Read program for middle/high schoolers, and Let Your Voice Be Heard poetry program for K-12 students), community outreach (Stories for Seniors program bringing readings to senior facilities), and special events (PoeFest, Kamishibai Storybox, American Literary Heroes performances, Civil Liberties educational programming about Japanese American incarceration, Ripples From Walden Pond play, Listen To This digital recordings, and San Diego Decameron Project). The organization celebrates its 20th anniversary season and is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, and private foundations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Story Concerts: Signature event featuring curated selections of short stories, poetry, and music read by professional actors, revolving around central themes.
- Read! Imagine! Create!
- Poetry Out Loud
- Ripples From Walden Pond
- Kamishibai StoryBox
- Stories for Seniors
- PoeFest
- American Literary Heroes
Products and services
- Story Concerts (Season 20) A six-show seasonal series of curated short stories, poetry, and music readings performed live by professional actors around a central theme; Season 20 at Dottie Studio Theater features themes including Twain Told Tales, Ladies Unmasked, Giving Season, Harlem & Beyond, Courage & Resolve, and Potluck 2.0.
- Poetry Out Loud A national poetry recitation competition for high school students (grades 9-12) in which participants select, memorize, interpret, and recite poems from the National Poetry Foundation anthology; winners advance from school to San Diego Regional Finals to California State Finals to National Finals in Washington D.C.
- Read! Imagine! Create! An annual NEA Big Read program encouraging middle and high school students to read a selected book (e.g., True Grit by Charles Portis for 2026-2027) and create original artistic projects in Visual Art, Literary Art, Performance Art, and Media Art categories.
- Let Your Voice Be Heard A poetry submission program for San Diego County students in grades K-12; students write poems inspired by an annual theme and selected poems are published in a digital magazine and displayed in local libraries.
- Stories for Seniors A monthly program in which professional actors visit senior facilities, retirement homes, and senior centers across San Diego County to read short stories, poems, and articles aloud to elderly residents who may no longer be able to read independently.
- PoeFest An annual Edgar Allan Poe festival featuring theatrical performances of Poe's macabre works, presented in partnership with the Friends of Villa Montezuma at the historic Villa Montezuma Museum across multiple October performance times.
- Ripples From Walden Pond
- Kamishibai Storybox A Japanese storytelling tradition program bringing international folk tales to life using wooden theaters and illustrated story boards, presented in classrooms and libraries across San Diego County, with some stories available in both English and Spanish.
- American Literary Heroes A program, part of the America250 celebration, in which actors portray iconic American writers (Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau) through original scripts at libraries, schools, and community venues across San Diego County.
- Civil Liberties Educational programming about Japanese American incarceration during WWII, offering Kamishibai storytelling presentations and a one-man play by Richard Platt about the 1942 forced removal of 120,000 people of Japanese descent.
- Listen To This A digital program featuring stories and poetry recorded by professional actors, including audio adaptations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Last Unicorn, distributed via YouTube playlists.
- San Diego Decameron Project A collaborative project inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron in which San Diego County authors submitted stories based on the COVID-19 pandemic; selected stories were read by Write Out Loud actors and digitally archived with the San Diego Public Library.
Quantifiable outcome
- About 100 students receive recognition annually through Read! Imagine! Create!
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Write Out Loud
Customer profileNamed customers14 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Write Out Loud technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Write Out Loud partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Poetry Foundation / National Poetry FoundationcoreNational partnership providing Poetry Out Loud anthology and program framework. Write Out Loud coordinates San Diego Regional Poetry Out Loud competition with winners advancing to state and national levels.
- Cygnet Theatre CompanycoreHost venue for Story Concerts Season 20 at Dottie Studio Theater in new Joan & Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center in Liberty Station. Co-producer of Festival of American Literary Heroes.
- San Diego County LibrariescoreLibrary branches serve as venues for American Literary Heroes performances, Read! Imagine! Create! artwork displays, Poetry Out Loud events, and Stories for Seniors readings. Multiple branches participate including Central Library and regional branches.
- Friends of Villa MontezumacorePartner organization for PoeFest presentations at historic Villa Montezuma Museum. Write Out Loud presents The Edgar Allan Poe Experience in partnership with this organization.
- Walt Whitman InitiativeminorNew York-based partner hosting Walt Whitman performance at Tane Poetry Library as part of American Literary Heroes program expansion.
- San Diego County Office of EducationcoreEducational partner for Let Your Voice Be Heard program, supporting student participation and program promotion across San Diego County schools.
- Arts EmpowerminorNonprofit partner supporting Let Your Voice Be Heard program, contributing to arts education access for San Diego County students.
- San Diego Public LibraryminorPartner for San Diego Decameron Project in Fall 2020, archiving all submitted stories. Collaborated on virtual presentations during pandemic.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Write Out Loud competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Hedgebrook: Nonprofit literary organization supporting writers and literary programming, including residencies and community engagement. Comparable nonprofit literary-arts mission focused on writing, voice, and audience development.
- National Storytelling Network: National nonprofit dedicated to the art of storytelling, supporting storytelling practitioners and events across the U.S. Comparable to Write Out Loud's live literary performance programming and education outreach mission.
- The Moth: Nonprofit literary storytelling organization producing live story-telling events and education programs. Directly comparable to Write Out Loud's Story Concerts and literary performance mission, though operating at significantly greater national scale.
- Center for Fiction: Nonprofit literary organization supporting fiction writers and readers through events, awards, workshops, and educational programming. Comparable nonprofit literary-arts mission with similar education and audience-development focus.
- Litquake: San Francisco-based nonprofit literary festival organization producing readings, workshops, and author events. Comparable regional literary-arts nonprofit with similar event-driven GTM and educational programming.
- Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center: Los Angeles-based nonprofit literary arts center offering readings, workshops, and community literary programming. Directly comparable community-focused literary nonprofit model, though with a stronger workshop/poetic emphasis.
Broad incumbents
- Poetry Foundation: National literary nonprofit that publishes Poetry magazine and runs the national Poetry Out Loud program, which Write Out Loud coordinates regionally. A broader incumbent in literary arts with overlapping programming and shared Poetry Out Loud framework.
- Lannan Foundation: Private literary arts foundation supporting innovative writing, poetry, and literary organizations. Comparable nonprofit funder/operator in the literary arts space with shared program philosophy.
- Folger Shakespeare Library: Major literary arts institution focused on Shakespeare and classic literature through performance, education, and community programs. Comparable in its use of live performance to make classic literature accessible to students and general audiences.
Emerging players
- Symphony Space (Selected Shorts): New York performing arts venue producing Selected Shorts — a live literary performance series featuring professional actors reading short fiction. Most directly comparable to Write Out Loud's Story Concerts concept.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Write Out Loud social profiles
Digital presenceWrite Out Loud financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Write Out Loud leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Write Out Loud funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Write Out Loud M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Write Out Loud
What does Write Out Loud do?
Write Out Loud is a San Diego-based nonprofit that produces live, literature-based performances and educational storytelling programs for audiences across all age groups. Its core offering centers on Story Concerts — themed seasonal readings of curated short stories, poetry, and music by professional actors — alongside K-12 educational programs (Poetry Out Loud competition, Read! Imagine! Create!, Let Your Voice Be Heard, Kamishibai Storybox), senior outreach (Stories for Seniors), and themed festivals (PoeFest, Festival of American Literary Heroes, American Literary Heroes character performances). Programs are delivered live in theaters, libraries, schools, and senior facilities across San Diego County, with select content also distributed digitally via YouTube.
Is Write Out Loud a public or private company?
Write Out Loud is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Write Out Loud founded?
Write Out Loud was founded in 2007. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Write Out Loud based?
Write Out Loud is headquartered in San Diego, United States, in the North America region.
How does Write Out Loud make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Donations and Contributions are the primary driver. The others are ticket Sales, government and Foundation Grants and corporate Sponsorships.
Who are Write Out Loud's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Hedgebrook, National Storytelling Network, The Moth, Center for Fiction, Litquake and Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center. Broad incumbents are Poetry Foundation, Lannan Foundation and Folger Shakespeare Library. Symphony Space (Selected Shorts) is listed as an emerging player.
Does Write Out Loud have an API?
No public API is recorded for Write Out Loud.
What industry is Write Out Loud in?
Write Out Loud's product category is Literary Arts Education and Performance. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAMAAAI, Creative Writing & Storytelling (Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting). Its NAICS code is 61161.