SLAMbassadors UK

Tower SLAM-lets

Poetry Society — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:41:15 +0000

The whole SLAMbassador team of poets and rappers have been hitting the roads around the east of London over the last few weeks, out with their pens correcting graffiti and talent scouting.

SLAMbassadors UK in collaboration with Tower Hamlets Library Service have returned to the borough, hunting for new spoken word artists to nurture over the coming years. So far we have paid visits to Langdon Park School, Stepney Green School Morpeth School and Swanlea – and future class room invasions are planned at Mulberry Girls, Raines Foundation School, Oaklands School and Sir John Cass School. All of the workshops last 2 days, allowing breathing space in the curriculum for creative exploration of the theme of Identity.

Regular readers of this blog will know that the driving ethic behind SLAMbassadors is free speech, and the giving back of voices to the silenced. Young people are silenced not only by inarticulacy but by experience. This is their opportunity to think clearly about those experiences and put them in to words. It is their opportunity to answer back. More than that it is a way of young people helping each other overcome issues and more widely to re-write the world. So far, workshops have resulted in poems and spoken word pieces addressing global problems that are relevant to the students of Tower Hamlets – Palestine, racism, Islamaphobia, conflict across the
iddle East, and gender inequalities to name a few, along with accounts of the effects of divorce or the loss of a parent. They are each powerful and direct expressions of the self.

Three students from each of the schools will be invited to take part in a dynamic showcase of their talent, representing their schools at a live event on July 4th in Soho Theatre, Dean Street, West End. They will be joined on stage by stars of the spoken word – to be announced nearer the time.

They have been perfect to work with – thank you young people of Tower Hamlets.

All the films will be uploaded to the Poetry Society’s You Tube page. Have a look. They are wicked.

SLAMbassadors on Stubnitz

Poetry Society — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:25:09 +0000

The SLAMbassadors will be supporting Joelle Taylor, John Hegley and The Beat at a major 4 day festival on April 26th!

Organised by Reel Rebels Radio the F.A.M.E Festival will take place on massive art house ship MS Stubnitz, which is docked among the mirrored towers of Canary Wharf for next month.

It is an incredible venue to play, and even better festival. The line up features punk bands, ska and reggae club, a ferocious main stage and a spoken word space. The gigs kick off at 6.30pm but during the day there will be opportunities to take part in workshops, watch screenings of independent films and explore the floating art gallery.

The gig on the 26th will be opened by SLAMbassadors including Charlotte Higgins, Aisling Fahey, Kayo Chingonyi, BaddaBoomTee, Jamal Msebele, Lewis Buxton and Megan Beech.

The SLAMbassadors will be supporting Joelle Taylor and John Hegley, as they in turn support The Beat. Big.

For tickets (£12/£15) go to http://www.wegottickets.com/FAME

The SLAMbassador Sessions # 3

Poetry Society — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:21:55 +0000

Once a month I organise and host the SLAMbassador Sessions for the Poetry Society, in a small basement in the clotted heart of Covent Garden. These are essentially live master classes in spoken word that are followed by scratch performances of new and experimental work. Each session has been a tiny miracle. Each one has had an inate beauty that it is difficult to describe. Each one has been perfect in its imperfections. They have shown the cleverness and the fearlessness of the writers and composers, and each poem or beat has taken fruther into the lives of the artists on stage. We have learned much.

Now it is time to take it one step further. And we need you to help us.

At the next SLAMbassadors Session on April 4th we need you to come and watch the gig. This is a very special gig, as it will be the one where you help me decide which of the poets and rappers on stage will accompany me when I support John Hegley and The Beat on board the magnificent art ship Stubnitz.

They are all too good for me to make a selection alone, and so when you arrive at the gig you will be given a sheet of paper with the artists names on. You simply tick the name you want to see perform again and I will take it from there.

If you do decide to come and support the SLAMbassadors all you need to do is whisper ‘The Beat’ to the door person and they will let you in free of charge.

SLAMbassador Sessions # 3

Poetry Cafe

22 Betterton Street

London wc2h 9bx

7.30pm

Human Writes – spaces available!!

Poetry Society — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:10:50 +0000

English PEN in collaboration with Kings College London invite all you young SLAMbassadors with words balanced on the edge of your tongues to take part in their World Poetry Day Slam! The SLAM will take place on March 21st in the Gallery Cafe, Bethnal Green London E3. It will feature SLAMbassador Megan Beech alonside Femi Martin, and will be hosted by SLAMbassadors UK coach and Artistic Director Joelle Taylor.

12 three minute slots are available – sign up on the door or get in touch with mary.horgan@kcl.ac.uk

Human Writes

Gallery Cafe

21 Old Ford Road E2 9PJ

March 21st

Doors 7pm £3 donation on the door.

SLAMbassadors included in The Complete Works

Poetry Society — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:23:38 +0000

SLAMbassador poets Jay Bernard and Kayo Chingonyi – both of whom began their careers as teens in the Poetry Society’s Rise Slam Championships – have been included on a list of 10 poets who will be further nurtured by the Complete Works II programme. The programme, led by Dr Natalie Teitler and supported by the amazing Spread the Word, will give all 10 of the artists full mentoring and nurturing as they embark on the next firm steps in their writing careers.

Less than 1% of poetry published by major presses in the UK is by Black and Asian poets, and this initiative is an attempt to redress that shameful inbalance. It is also encouraging to see that half the 10 poets selected are female.

The 10 will attend literary salons, semionars, receive critical feedback from poet mentors, spend some valuable time on a residential week at the Arvon Foundation – and become published in a new Bloodaxe anthology. Another hidden benefit is the that they will all be able to network and provide life long artisitic support for each other. It is the foundation stone of the next generation of UK poets.

The 10 selected poets are: Kayo Chingonyi, Jay Bernard, Warsan Shire, Sarah Howe (previous winner of the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Awards) Adam Lowe, Inua Ellams, Rishi Dastidar, Eileen Pun, Edward Doegar and Mona Arshi. The patron of the programme is Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

Just so you know why he was selected , here is a sample of Kayo Chingonyi’s Alternate Take recorded at the last SLAMbassadors Sessions.

A proud day at the Poetry Society.

The next SLAMbassador Sessions will be at the Poetry Cafe on March 7th 7.30pm. Email jtaylor@poetrysociety.org,uk for more details.