Saturday, January 19th, 2008 @ 6:00 pm-9:00 pm, Ruta Maya World Headquarters, 3601 S. Congress, Austin , Texas
presented by the Texas Youth Word Collective
$5 cover (free for slammers and under 5)
CONTACTS: Ron Horne (512) 632-5033
Dr. Sheila Siobhan (512) 422-6653
Co-Directors
E-Mail: u21slam@yahoo.com
Website: www.txywc.org
Happy New Year, Austin!!! 2008 is guaranteed to be something truly special. This election year will see free speech at a new height as the Austin City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam pursues the creation of a team of hot young poets to represent our great city this summer in The Nation’s Capitol. While Democrats and Republicans will be coronating their respective presidential nominees, Austin’s best youth poets will join teenagers from across the country showing America the genius of its future.
Austin, we want you . . . no we NEED you at the City Wide to help select our next team of spoken word warriors to speak truth to power. Last season’s Austin Under 21 Poetry Slam Team took the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in San Jose, California by storm, wowing audiences and judges alike with their brilliant group pieces. Coached by the incomparable Mike Whalen, (Neo Soul coach to the finals of the National Poetry Slam) the Under 21 Slam Team represented the spirit of Austin with their creativity and team spirit. 2007 Slam Champion Shay Harris (Reagan H.S.), Ruby Wilmann (LBJ H.S.), Brent Caballero (Hendrickson H.S.), and 2006 Slam Champion Jonathon “Korim” Sterling made us proud with their 6th place finish, competing against over 200 other youth poets from around the United States and England .
In 2007, students from schools across the Greater Austin area including Bastrop , Cedar Park , Austin , Hendrickson, LBJ, Westwood, Pflugerville, San Marcos , and St. Stephen’s Episcopal High Schools, as well as Austin Community College competed in the Austin City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slams.
Participants in the City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam have represented Austin at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festivals in Chicago , Los Angeles , San Francisco , New York , and San Jose . The top four poets of this season will win an all expense trip to Washington D.C. , just in time to speak their minds before the national elections! If you have been to a City Wide you know, our youth are sure to give those politicians a much needed lesson in speechifyin’!!! If you haven’t been to a City Wide, now is your chance to see what all the hub bub is about.
Come join us in supporting the voices and leaders of tomorrow. This project is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Ron Horne & Dr. Sheila Siobhan, Co-Directors
Texas Youth Word Collective
u21slam@yahoo.com
www.txywc.org
(512)632-5033