Poetry and literary events began to come to greater popularity with the opening of the Sioux Empire Arts Council Horse Barn Gallery as the 21st century began (then directed by Deb Klebanoff), and due to a National Endowment for the Arts-supported Y Writer's Voice, founded and directed by Allison Hedge Coke. The Y Writer's Voice included a reading series of 38 nationally known poets and writers per year who performed works and youth workshops through the Sioux Falls Writers Voice in local performance spaces, at the YMCA after-school program, and in local schools, gaining national attention.