HELP get the BayArea UNIFIED Slam Team to the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte NC!

[Dahled]

Hey Fam-

We're doing things a little different this year and combining forces with the fine folks at the Berkeley, San Francisco and San Jose slams and sending one UNIFIED team to the National Slam. You know what they say "many hands makes for light work". Even with the bigger organizing team we could still use a hand getting the (supremely awesome!) team across the country to rep YOU in Charlotte, NC. 

PLEASE take a few minutes to stop by our indieGoGo campaign and help however you can. Seriously, if you can only afford a dollar that gets us a dollar closer to Charlotte. If you know other folks that might be in a position to help feel free to share the link. There's only a couple of days left in the campaign so this is the final push and we could really use your help. 

Here's the link - http://www.indiegogo.com/unified2012 

Thanks!

Dahled (Oakland Poetry Slam organizer)

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Some Background:

Did you know that the first ever National Poetry Slam ("NPS") was held right here in the Bay Area? That was waaay back in 1990 and there were only 2 teams involved (SF & Chicago). Since then things have changed; Both NPS and the spoken word poetry scene in the Bay have flourished. This summer 72 teams will head to Charlotte NC for The 2012 National Poetry Slam, among them is the first ever BayArea UNIFIED team.

That's right, for the first time ever, the four longstanding Poetry Slams from the Bay are combining forces and sending a single team to represent the entire area from SF & the East Bay all the way to San Jose. The venues combining efforts to field this monster team are The SF Slam & Experimental Mic; The Berkeley Poetry Slam; The Oakland Poetry Slam & Open-Mic and San Jose's Oversocial MoFo Review. At the conclusion of the "regular season" the 24 winingest poets from across the Bay competed in one of four semi-finals from which the top 8 advanced on to the first ever UNIFIED Finals! There the team that will go on to represent YOU in Charlotte was picked.

The good news is we have a GREAT team! The bad news is while we raised a sizable chunk of the funds needed to get them to and through a week in Charlotte we need your help to close the gap. 100% of the funds raised in this campaign will go to funding team travel and lodging to and at NPS; the production of a team chapbook and DVD

What We Need:

All told it'll take about $6,500 to register for Nationals, fly the team to Charlotte and house them while they're there. We'll also be self-publishing a collection of poetry and creating a DVD featuring performances from team members to aid in fundraising. If we need to hitchhike and crash on another team's floor while we're in N. Carolina we will. With your help though we'll meet our goal. Either way 100% of your donation will go to the expenses listed here. If we somehow manage to surpass our goal, the surplus will be divided among the team to be used as a per-diem while in NC.

What You Get:

YES - We have PERKS for you! A small donation will get you a chapbook with a (handwritten) poem from each team member and both coaches OR a chapbook from one of the team members. If you're able to be slightly more generous you'll recieve a copy of the DVD mentioned above, the team chapbook and one from each team member. If you're straight ballin and can afford a larger donation, in addition to all the items above we'll give you 2 lifetime passes to all our shows AND arrange a special feature performance by the team just for you!

Other Ways You Can Help:

Tell you friends and help us spread the word! We're on facebook, google+, youtube, myspace, twitter and pretty much everyplace else you can think of online - check us out. If you know someone who's a fan of poetry (or comedy, theater and live performance in general) point them in our direction and earn a little good karma.