Youth Speaks Seattle Grand Slam Finals 3/19 at the Moore Theatre
Youth Speaks Seattle Information
Please pass on!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2010
CONTACT:
Chris Zweigle (Mentor)
Rose McAleese (Outreach Coordinator)
Robin Park (Spokes Coordinator)
Don’t miss the Seattle Youth Speaks Grand Slam Finals at the Moore Theatre!
(Seattle, WA) – The literary history of Seattle will be made at the Moore Theatre on the night of March 19th. At 7pm, 12 of this city's most talented young poets will take the stage to compete in the Youth Speaks Seattle's 2010 Grand Slam Finals, an exciting evening of brilliant and original poetry performances, fabulous entertainment, and head-to-head competition.
The Youth Speaks Seattle Slam Series, which runs from December through March every year with a series of four poetry slam competitions, are open to young people between the ages of 13-19. The participants are scored using Olympic-style point system by a panel of judges, based on writing content and performance quality.
At the Finals, these 12 finalists will compete for a spot on a team of five to represent Seattle at the 2010 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival, held this year in Los Angeles. The popularity of these national youth poetry competitions has grown tremendously every year since they first began in 1998. In 2008, Brave New Voices, held in Washington D.C. that year, was the subject of an eight-part HBO documentary narrated by Queen Latifah and produced by Russell Simmons.
“This year, we’ve seen an incredibly talented group of young poets showing up to compete at the preliminary slam events,” said Rose McAleese (Outreach Coordinator) of Youth Speaks Seattle. “There are new poets competing every year and they just get better and better. When I was competing at the national slam last year in Chicago, someone from another city told me that everyone had been talking about the great writing that keeps coming out of Seattle every year. She said they were all wondering if maybe there was something in the water out here.”
Proceeds from the Grand Slam will support Youth Speaks Seattle, which provides programs and workshops to encourage self-expression and empowerment among young people of all genders, races, and economic backgrounds in the Greater Seattle Area.
“Anyone who is interested in the
future of poetry, performance and literacy in Seattle should not miss
this show,” McAleese said.
The Finals will be hosted by Karen Finneyfrock, Writer-in-Residence at the Richard Hugo House and 3-time member of the Seattle Adult National Poetry Slam Team, and featuring Rocky Rivera, formerly EyeASage, Pinay emcee and hip-hop journalist based out of the Bay Area, who will perform songs from her newly released self-titled debut album, which will be available for purchase at the event. Finneyfrock will also read from her new book of poems, "Ceremony of a Choking Ghost", which will also be available for purchase.
Admission is $10 Youth/$15 for 21 and up. Tickets will be available at the door or they can be ordered in advance at $15 Youth/$20 for 21 and up. You can purchase tickets at: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?pid=6695301
Youth Speaks Seattle is the city's premier not-for-profit organization for youth poetry and spoken word performances. The organization works to provide avenues of expression for young voices by offering creative writing instruction and performance opportunities in the Greater Seattle area. Additional news and information about Youth Speaks Seattle is available at: http://www.youthspeaksseattle.org
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Youth Speaks Seattle
in...@youthspeaksseattle.org
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206.774.0443