Thanks to an overwhelming response this year to SLAMbassadors UK, we have extended the deadline for uploading entries to the national slam championship to January 7th 2012! We have had the most entries this year in our long history – and still have a couple of schools priming to send us their films through. As we want to include them in the judging, we have given all of you a little more time. So: if you are a young poet, if you believe in the power of words to change worlds, and want to be supported in that – get in touch. Follow the links to entry process and send us your films – either on MP4 files or uploaded directly to You Tube (but remember to send us the link and the Entry Form).

2012 DECADE CELEBRATIONS

2012 is a very special year for us. We will be celebrating our DECADE as the UK’s longest running youth slam – from its small London beginnings in 2002 as the Respect Slam (later, the Rise Slam) through to operating fully on a national level with the help from the BBC from 2008 onward. As such, we are planning BIG things – including a live gig featuring each winner from each year that SLAMbassadors has been spitting into the spotlight. Judge’s names plus the very special Spoken Word Icon will be released in January. Watch this space.

It’s that time of year again!

October 6th is National Poetry Day for the whole of the UK, and this year two of our A Team SLAMbassadors will be celebrating live on stage next to some of the biggest names in page and performance poetry. Catherine Labiran and NAGA MC will be sharing the spotlight alongside Simon Armitage, Lemn Sissay, Jackie Kay, Jo Bell, Imtiaz Dharker, Glyn Maxwell, Joelle Taylor and Yemisi Blake.  The theme this year is ‘Games’.

The NPD LIVE spectacular will take place from 1-6pm in the Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival and is completely FREE.

This is your opportunity to  catch the artists live, and to hear first hand why they wrote their poems, and what inspires them every day. In other words, if you are studying poetry in your GCSE’s this year or next this is the place you need to be. Watch those grades rise as high late September temperatures…

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.

a brave new word - SLAMbassadorsUK goes LIVE across the nation today! Brrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaapppp!!

Some poets write on paper and some poets write on air and we want to hear from you! Get ready to wrap your lips round a microphone and spit your way to the top stages in the country.

The national championship is open to all 12-18 year olds living in the UK who write an original 2 minute piece around the theme of Identity – who you are, where you are from and where you are going (check out the rules and theme notes here). It gives you the opportunity to reclaim your voice, edit it and amplify it to the nation.

Workshops aiming to inspire, advise and film emerging young poets will take place across the UKtaking in North Somerset to Tower Hamlets, Leeds to Liverpool, Buckinghamshire to Brixton and lots of stops in between. A team of established spoken word artists, rappers and poets will go into schools, youth clubs and theatres to root out young talent, working with aspiring artists to create a piece and filming it to upload to our SlamCam site. Entries will then be judged by respected artists – previous judges have included Benjamin Zephaniah, Scroobius Pip and Linton Kwesi Johnson – and winners offered mentoring and the opportunity to perform live in London in March next year!

The poets taking to the road with me this year will include former Slam winners Chris Preddie (aka Cashman), PACE, Louise Hill and Kayo Chingonyi alongside established artists Nikki Blaze, Khadijah Ibrahim and Beyonder. Many of the previous winners of the Slam are now big names on the performance poetry circuit.

Any young person can enter – you do not need to belong to a school or to have taken part in one of the free workshops. Enter independently here or watch this space for details of workshops near you.

“It was great to see so many entrants,” said previous judge, underground alternative hip hop emcee Scroobius Pip. “The styles were so varied yet all shared the same passion. The use and willingness to explore language with such creativity was amazing!”

We are in an era of huge political changes and uncertainty. But one thing will remain constant – young people’s dedication to speaking the truth, to having your voices heard and to wowing their audience with the rawness of your words.

Enter here now!

Joelle Taylor