Saturday, June 30th, 3-6 pm, Ruta Maya World Headquarters 3601 S. Congress, D-200

R.A.P.- Rhythm and Poetry: Returning the Words to the Drumbeat
Presented by the Texas Youth Word Collective

Summer time . . . hot streets. Spoken word . . . drums, beats. On June 30th, both meet as the Texas Youth Word Collective presents R.A.P.- Rhythm and Poetry: Returning the Words to the Drumbeat at Ruta Maya World Headquarters, 3601 S. Congress Avenue from 3pm – 6pm. Wisdom of the ages flow from teen sages, this year’s Austin Under 21 Poetry Slam team. They’ll be joined by streams of rhythmic percussion from Drum Jam, second rounders in FameCast. Resident DJ F. Scott brings the scratch full blast. Words will fly fast and furious, as will beats and licks, rhythm and rhyme do tricks that speak the truth, inform the soul. All with the goal of raising funds to help a group of young writers compete in a sea of minds. Giving their finest performances they’ll share their wordcraft and meet their kind at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in San Jose in mid July. We told them the sky was the limit. Come see them prove it; add Drum Jam’s unique music, use it for inspiration to the heart. Help these Austin youth reps depart on a journey that all can enjoy.

The 2007 Austin Under 21 Slam Team will be the fifth team to represent Austin on the international stage (previous teams have demonstrated their skills in New York , San Francisco , Los Angeles , and Chicago . These four poets have been chosen by the people of Austin from students competing from high schools across the Greater Austin area including Bastrop, Cedar Park, Austin, Pflugerville, Manor, San Marcos as well as Austin Community College. Shay Harris (Reagan H.S.), Ruby Willmann (LBJ H.S.), Brent Caballero (Hendrickson H.S.), and Jonathon “Korim” Sterling (graduate Stonypoint H.S.) will compete against over two hundred youth poets from across the United States and England. You can see what all the excitement is about come June 30th!

ADMISSION: Adults- $10, Youth- $5, Children 5 and under-free

CONTACTS: Ron Horne (512) 632-5033, Co-Director
Dr. Sheila Siobhan (512) 422-6653, Co-Director

E-Mail: u21slam@yahoo.com
Website: www.txywc.org

The Austin City-Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.