Palm Beach County to Open Three Major Cultural Festivals This January

Palm Beach County will live up to its well earned title as "Florida's Cultural Capital" early next year when three major cultural festivals open one after the other, three days in a row:

+ Monday, January 18 - The 12th annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, featuring Robert Hass, former United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997) and 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner, as Special Guest Poet.

+ Tuesday, January 19 - The 21st annual FOTOfusion, hosted by the Palm Beach Photographic Centre

+ Wednesday, January 20 - The 26th annual The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, which will present more than 30 movies from around the world.

About the Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2016:

Once again being held at Old School Square in Delray Beach, the Festival will feature 15 of America's most engaging poets at nine literary workshops and numerous ticketed public events, including readings, talks, interviews, panel discussions, coffeehouse performance, and more. In addition to Mr. Hass, the nationally renowned poets will include Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Dominique Christina, Carl Dennis, Denise Duhamel, Carol Frost, Thomas Lux, Alan Shapiro, Tom Sleigh, Marc Kelly Smith, Mary Szybist and Kevin Young.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is generously sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, Morgan Stanley, the Windler Group of Morgan Stanley's Atlanta Office; the Cultural Council of Palm County, the Palm Beach County Tourism Development Council and the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County; The Palm Beach Post; Visit Florida; WLRN; and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach's independent bookseller. For more information, visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.

About the Palm Beach Photographic Centre's FOTOfusion 2016:

Every year, FOTOfusion - "where creativity and technology fuse" - attracts hundreds of professional and hobbyist photographers to West Palm Beach for five days of workshops, lectures, panel discussions, multimedia presentations, portfolio reviews, hands-on computer classes, demonstrations, and photo shoots taught by an impressive faculty of industry leaders and photographic giants who donate their time and expertise to educate, mentor and encourage creativity among participants of all levels and ages. Two FOTOfusion highlights will be the presentation of the annual FOTOmentor Award to legendary sports photographer Walter Iooss, Jr., who has shot more than 300 covers for Sports Illustrated, and FOTOvision, a series of short photographic films that will be shown on the Great Lawn in downtown West Palm Beach.

The Palm Beach Photographic Centre is located in the City Center municipal complex at 415 Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach. Hours are 10 am to 6 pm Monday through Thursday, and 10 am to 5 pm Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, call 561.253.2600 or visit www.workshop.org or www.fotofusion.org.

About the Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival 2016:

Presented by the Mandel Jewish Community Center of the Palm Beaches, the upcoming Film Festival will open at the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion on January 20 with the film DOUGH starring stage and screen actor Jonathan Pryce. For the next three weeks, the Festival will present 30 films that celebrate the Jewish experience and community at several different movie houses, including the Cobb Theatres at Downtown in Palm Beach Gardens, Cinemark theatres in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach and the Frank Cinebowl & Grill in Delray Beach. The closing film, the documentary RAISE THE ROOF, will be shown at the Duncan Theatre in Lake Worth.

The Film Festival strives to bring to South Florida the finest examples of cinema from around the world. Founded in 1990 the festival continues to grow and evolve as it continues to expand the selection of narrative features, short films and documentaries to reflect the tastes and needs of its audience. For more information, visit www.PBJFF.org.

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