The Word is a transformative literary arts program powered by an intergenerational cooperative of diverse, justice-minded spoken word artists. The Word builds community by growing radically inclusive writing and performance programs grounded in poetry, rap, and song. Through its many partnerships, The Word brings a creative life force into social action groups, movements, and institutions – expanding our collective capacity to re-imagine ourselves and our world.
CT YOUTH SLAM
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The Youth Slam team was held at Stetson library in New Haven CT. It was open to youth up to 19 year old and every participant had to sign up online before the posted deadline. There was a max of 20 participants allowed to sign up and once the max was hit the signup was closed! The competition was fierce for the top 6 slots who would move on to become members of the CT Slam Team! The CT Slam Team for the first time with The Word is traveling to the international competition Brave New Voices (BNV). The competition is being held in San Francisco, California this July! The CT Slam Team members will also have opportunities to compete against out of state slam teams and be given opportunities to perform in state! The top 4 winners took home cash prizes and first place was crowned the CT Slam Champion! All students poured their heart and souls into their work! They were all AMAZING! Everyone was prepared with 3 original works. The first round was a 3 min poem, second round was a 2 min poem and 3rd round was a 1 min poem. The event was widely attended and the youth voices were celebrated.
BRAVE NEW VOICES
The Youth Slam winners traveled to Brave New Voices in July 2023! This international poetry competition took place in San Francisco California! It is at a different location every year. The students practiced hard to prepare for the competition and did AMAZINGLY!During the three days with Brave New Voices the students networked with peers from throughout the world, joined workshops with renowned poets, artists and speakers and participated in other events.
The students and their chaperones were also able to explore the city while they were there before the competition! They ventured out to The Black Panther museum, saw the Golden Gate Bridge, enjoyed local cuisine, and exploring!
LIT CYPHERS
Once a quarter our Interim Artistic Director Tarishi who is the predominant weekly Word Workshops Teaching Artist at Neighborhood Music School hosts a Lit Cypher. The Lit Cyphers are an event held at Neighborhood Music School where poets, musicians and creators perform their works. Each Lit Cypher we have a different Feature Performer and a student Feature Performer. Many of the Feature Performers are Teaching Artists with The Word and many of the student Feature Performers are students who have attended workshops with us. If you are interested in being a Feature Performer please email a sample of your performing your work.