It’s that time of year again!

The SLAMbassadors are once more packing up their microphones, eating their notebooks and getting set to travel back down to North Somerset to lead the second SLAMbassadors Summer Residential. This year, we are spending a week at Goblin Combe, an enviromental centre set deep in the tangled woods of Somerset and far away from the inane distractions of every day city life. 15 students have been invited to participate in the slam residential  – talent scouted from local secondary schools and youth groups. During their stay they will be led in intensive writing workshops – exploring different poetic techniques ranging from the development of powerful  imagery to polyvocal poetry – that will be facilitated by Artistic Director and Team Coach Joelle Taylor, along with North Somerset Slam Laureate Louise Hill and Emcee Hussain ‘Mad Boy’ Manawer from LondonBreaks. They will also take part in performance masterclasses, freestyle sessions, stage technique workshops and delivering poetry to the camera. All of the young slammers will be filmed for inclusion in the SLAMbassadors UK 2011 Championships – so watch this space for links.

At the end of the week – the real fun begins. On Friday 19th August the slammers will battle it out at BoomFest before a live and frisky audience for the title of North Somerset SLAMbassador. Last year’s winner Aaron Denyer will also be hosting at BoomFest throughout the weekend along with a special guest.

Big Top

BoomFest

Weston Super Mare

6pm – 8pm

GLASTONBURY  FESTIVAL

We have finally mananged to scrape the mud out from beneath our tongues after Sin One and Joelle Taylor took Glastonbury Festival by storm!! They performed in the funky Poetry and Words tent nestled toward the rear of the Cabaret field, beneath a 200 ft flame spitting metal spider! All good. Thanks to the extra care and attention given by hosts Dreadlock Alien and Paula Varjack, the gigs went without a hitch – unless you call a heatwave during a slam a glitch, that is. SinOne perfromed a gig on Friday, Joelle on Saturday and then both led the infamous GLASTONBURY SLAM as the headline act on Sunday evening. Watch this space for full details on this year’s winner – the youngest to ever grab the mic at that event at just 17!

POP UP FESTIVAL

www.pop-up.org.uk

SLAMbassadors UK is proud and excited to be a part of the first ever Pop UP Festival of Children’s Stories – taking place on July 9th and 10th in Coram’s Fields, 93 Guilford Street, City of London WC1N 1DN.

9th July Poetry Arena - curated by Joelle Taylor

The Poetry Arena will feature some of the most dynamic performance poets, rappers, beatboxers and spoken word artists ever to gather together on one dusty stage over the space of just 6 hours. Featuring gigs from 10 years of SLAMbassadors UK winners alongside the impressive vocal acrobatics of Francesca Beard, Adisa, Charlie Dark and – headliner – Alexander D Great.

July 10 SLAMbassadors UK Workshop

Led by Joelle Taylor – Artistic Director of SLAMbassadors UK, UK coach and Poet

A rare opportunity to sign up for participation in this performance poetry master class from 11am  for a workshop beginning at 12.  This intensive master class will take you through the history of UK spoken word, writing techniques that will make your wrist leave home, performance skills to help you scar the stage with your name and one-to-one mentoring with Joelle Taylor. By the end of the day you will have written your own entry for  SLAMbassadors UK 11, filmed it – and then you will prepare to perfrom live at 4.30pm!! If you’re interested email jtaylor@poetrysociety.org.uk to be first on the waiting list. If you want to be a professional poet and/ or performer this is where it all begins…

LARMER TREE FESTIVAL – SALISBURY

July 15th and 17th 2011

Joelle Taylor and slam-alumni Kayo Chingonyi will be hitting the glamping festival of year, Larmer Tree from July 15th. This is an amazing, energetic  jazz/ folk festival nestled somewhere off the main road to Salisbury amidst green fields and peacocks (apparently). We will be peforming in the Lyrical Lostwood each evening 9-11pm, and Kayo will also be the festival poet laureate this year. Catch Kayo Chingonyi each day for mentoring workshops in the Lostwood space.

The 9 national winners of SLAMbassadors UK, the country’s only talent scouting championship for spoken word artists, smashed the stage at the Drill Hall Showcase on March 6th! They had each spent the weekend in an intensive Master Class with poet and Artistic Director Joelle Taylor to help them fine tune their poetry and explore new forms and performance techniques.

The gig was HUGE. From the opening ‘Out in the streets they call it muuuuuuurder…’ to the final lines from Linton

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Kwesi Johnson, the stage was ablaze – wtih talent, honesty, artistic integrity, beauty, violence and love.  Poetry is intense. It is inspirational, and it is IMMENSE. Please do check out all of the winning poems, and show them to your children, your friends, a hidden writer you may have found.

The weekend was not just about creating powerful pieces for performance, but about introducing the young artists to a new and dynamic cultural network – the ‘slam-ily’ as one of the artists described it. This ‘slam-ily’ will share their writings with each other, advise each other on how to improve or add more tone to their work,  tip each other off to opportunities, record together and share stages. The slam-ily that gigs together, stays together. Although the UK winners are separated by distance and differing cultural and social backgrounds, they are united by their words. And thanks to contemporary digital advances, they are also now linked via technology. Online mentoring will continue and monthly meetings are are being set up.

SLAMbassadors UK – whilst the first major youth slam in the country – has always been slightly different to its sister slams. We do not mark as stringently. It is impossible to lose points in our slam. We have stopped waggling score cards in the faces of terrified youth. Points are awarded according to how many hairs raise on outr arms when we see your films. Crucially, we do not slam after the championship closes – we are not about winning against other slam teams, but about continued professional development for the spoken word artists involved. You will see us at gigs. You will read our work in magazines and anthologies.  Some of you will be in workshops facilitated by us. You  may hear us on the radio or catch a glimpse on some late night television show. But our words will always be with you.

We have now confirmed both a funky venue and incredible headline Icon of Poetry act to headline the UK Final SLAMbassadors UK Showcase! For this unique and dymanic meeting of disparate poetic minds over a hot microphone we now have the awesome LINTON KWESI JOHNSON, the dub-father, confirmed.

 SUNDAY 6th March 2011  from 5pm to 7pm

SLAMbassadors UK

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Joelle Taylor

“History of Slam” in the Music & Audio section of BBC Blast