Saturday, March 29th, 2008 @ 5:00 pm, Ruta Maya World Headquarters, 3601 S. Congress
Presented by the Texas Youth Word Collective
Wow!!! How time flies. It seems like just yesterday we were opening the 2008 City Wide Under 21 Slam season. The City Wide season has, in some respects, mirrored the election campaign season, with different front runners each contest and a schedule that accelerates the calendar every time the youth compete. Now, here we are, presenting the last City Wide before the Slam Offs in April and May to determine the team that will represent Austin in the nation’s capitol this summer at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival (BNV). And like the waning days of the NBA season, poets are jockeying for playoff position, trying to establish home field advantage, and looking to establish momentum leading to the opportunity for the City Wide championship. We invite you to be there for all of the gut wrenching, heart pounding, awe inspiring action, as young wordsmiths battle for the chance to showcase their skills on the national stage.
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 BNV in San Jose, California by storm, stunning 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 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Texas Commission on the Arts.
$5 cover, free for slammers and under 5
CONTACT Co-Directors:
Ron Horne (512) 632-5033
Dr. Sheila Siobhan (512) 422-6653
E-Mail: u21slam@yahoo.com
Website: www.txywc.org