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April
14th to the 18th in Los Angeles
GRAND
SLAM FINALS ON APRIL 17!
Don't
miss the Pre-festival slams in Los Angeles!
1.
Monday, APRIL 5: Green -
8pm BATTLE
UnUrban Cafe
3301 Pico Blvd (Pico and Urban)
Santa Monica
2. Tuesday,
APRIL 6: Da Poetry Lounge - 7:30pm BATTLE
$2-$10 donation sliding scale: No one will be
turned away for lack of funds.
Greenway
Court Theatre @ Fairfax HS
544 N. Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
3. Monday,
APRIL 12: Open Hearts Open Minds - 8pm SHOWCASE
$5 admission fee
24th Street Theatre
1117 W. 24th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
4. Tuesday,
APRIL 13: Downbeat 720 - 7:20pm FINAL BATTLE
FREE!
Miles Playhouse
1130 Lincoln Blvd (just north of Wilshire)
Santa Monica, CA
Festival
Description:
In April of
2004, a generation of young artists, educators, poets,
and mentors will converge on Los Angeles to participate
in the spectacular, internationally renowned National
Youth Poetry Slam Festival. Brave New Voices gathers,
educates and showcases talented, dedicated and courageous
young writers from across the country.
Now in its 7th year, Brave New Voices creates a forum
and community among an ever-growing number of youth who
are returning to literature and reinvesting in education
through the power of the spoken word.
Building bridges across radically diverse ethnic, racial
and socio-economic lines, The National Youth Poetry Slam
Festival is for a generation of young people speaking
for themselves; a generation documenting their days in
journals, reciting struggles and successes on open microphones,
teenagers transcending traditional stereotypes by speaking
their truths and listening to the truths ofothers.
Brave New Voices includes youth open mics, an adult reading
that features professional poets and performers, (inter)-national
community building and networking, panel discussions,
workshops lead by professional writers and educators,
and The National Youth Poetry Slam. A Poetry Slam is an
Olympic-style poetry competition where poets compete on
teams in rounds with scores awarded by five judges. The
National Youth Poetry Slam Festival uses The Poetry Slam
as a tool to bring together the top young poets from around
the country to share their work with their peers and a
larger audience. Run like an athletic tournament there
are team “try-outs,” strategies implemented during the
Slam and an adult “coach” who mentors the young writers.
Participants:
Across the country teenagers participate in poetry slams organized by
teachers, schools, local poets, community organizers and youth workers.
Although the slam is a competitive event, where participants and
organizers pour in hours and days of effort and dedication, competition
is de-emphasized and commitment to craft and growth in the writer and
person are encouraged. From these local slams, 4-6 of the top poets (13-19
years old) will be selected to represent their city at Brave New Voices.
More than 200 young poets will participate in this year’s event, held
in Los Angeles. We also will involve 500-1000 students from throughout
Southern California in the weekend festival. In 2004, we have made
accommodations for 32 total teams, including 4 from throughout Southern
California. This means there are 28 slots for teams from around the
country. We will do our best to accommodate all who register, but if
there are more than 28 teams, we will work out a formula so as to best
accommodate geographical diversity.
About "Youth
Speaks":
Youth Speaks is building the next generation of leaders through the
written and spoken word. A non-profit literary arts, education, and
cultural resource center for teenagers, our innovative programs nurture
and develop the youth voice and promote positive social dialogue across
boundaries of age, race, class, gender, culture, and sexual
orientation.
By coupling public performance and publication opportunities with
educational workshops, mentoring programs, and cooperative learning,
Youth Speaks is committed to creating spaces that celebrate the youth voice
and its essential role in the literary continuum.
Youth Speaks is the premier nonprofit presenter of spoken word and
youth poetry programs in the country. Founded in 1996, Youth Speaks produces
multiple artistic forums, such as the Living Word Festival, Second
Sundays, the Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam, Bay Area Hip Hop Theater
Festival, Brave New Voices, Spoken City and the Bringing the Noise
Reading Series. Equally key to Youth Speaks’ mission is its comprehensive
curricula of arts education and youth development programs, such as
free after-school and in-class writing workshops, and school assemblies.
Based in San Francisco, Youth Speaks has reached tens of thousands of youth
in the Bay Area alone.
For more information visit http://www.youthspeaks.org.
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