From the fall of 1987 through the Spring of 2003, over one hundred poets read in Dia's Readings in Contemporary Poetry series, coordinated by Brighde Mullins. These readings included historic literary events, such as James Schuyler's first public reading.

Readings in Contemporary Poetry was funded, in part, by generous grants from The Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation, Inc., Lannan Foundation, and Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund, with additional support from the Axe-Houghton Foundation.