The UK’s only professional development ONLINE slam
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"Listening to last year’s respect poets reinforced my belief in the power of the word. These poems were more powerful than any political speech, they were more honest than any lecture, they spoke of history, they spoke of now, they spoke of the future…"
Benjamin Zephaniah, Poet
Joelle Taylor, spoken word artist, mentor and coordinator of Slambassadors UK, expresses through slam how important this artform is.
Chris Preddie (aka Cashman) tells his story through slam.
We said we would be back. And we are…
All over London and Liverpool young performance poets and rappers are dusting off their vocal chords, flexing their pens and unhooking microphones from their stands.
SLAMbassadors UK is set to take spoken word slam into the 21st Century, by piloting the first online national youth slam championships through YouTube. The Poetry Society have teamed up with Writing on the Wall to bring the slam to Liverpool.
Open to all 12-18 year olds living in either London or Liverpool, SLAMbassadors UK follows on from the acclaimed Rise Londonwide Slam Championship by opening up the internet to emerging artists.
If you’re keen to develop your writing and stage skills, this is the competition for you.
The idea is simple.
You create original, challenging, thoughtful, emotional and inspirational spoken word (poetry or rap) around the theme of ‘Respect and/or Identity’. Then you film yourself - using your mobile phone, your digital camera, your camcorder, any means possible - performing the piece.
Send your video clips into us, and we will upload them to our YouTube page. All entries will be vetted by a team of professional spoken word artists before being uploaded. The general public will be allowed to vote on each of the videos. The public will have the opportunity to pick the Audience Choice winner. The final winners will be judged and chosen by a panel of professional judges, and their decision will be final.
12 London and 12 Liverpool young poets/ rappers will be selected by the judges to perform at a live event in either city in early 2009. During these semi final events, the judges will then choose 4 artists from each city that can be mentored in creating professional spoken word sets. These sets will be showcased in April 2009 alongside sets by established poets.
So get writing. Get rehearsing. Get filming. Get on stage now.
JOELLE TAYLOR has worked extensively as a performance poet, spoken word artist and storyteller since 1986, and also has a background in theatre. She has led numerous writing and performance workshops in schools, theatres and art centres. She has toured nationally both as a solo artist and as a member of Atomic Lip, a polyphonic performance poetry group which fused spoken word with popular culture. Once described as 'Poetry you can dance to' by The Independent, Atomic Lip produced two pop-poetry videos funded by the National Lottery. She has performed her poetry, stories and plays at venues as diverse as the ICA, Dingwalls, Ronnie Scott's, the Globe, the 100 Club, Glastonbury, the Oval House and Drill Hall Theatre. She has had four full length scripts produced for theatre. She was the Hot off the Press UK Performance Poetry Slam Champion 2000 and currently hosts Mother Foucault spoken word night. Her writing has been published by Scarlet Press and Routledge, and her scripts have featured in several texts about women's theatre. She is currently awaiting publication of her poetry in two separate anthologies. She has taught courses at the Arvon Foundation, as well as appearing as a featured artist there. She recently travelled to Zimbabwe with the British Council, and having won the Power in the Voice slam, also toured Botswana in the summer of 2008. She has worked in a variety of educational settings and has delivered Performance Poetry and Slam INSETS for a number of agencies across the UK.
SLAMMERS 2008/09
TEACHERS
GENERAL SLAM INFO
In partnership with
Writing on the Wall
Funded by the Department for
Children, Schools and Families
With additional funding from
Aldgate and Allhallows &
Barking Exhibition Foundation
London slammers
Contact:
Joelle Taylor
020 7420 9893
email
Liverpool slammers
Contact:
Madeline or Jess
0151 703 0020
email
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