Youth Speaks Announces Teams and Schedule of Events for the 15th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival

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I think everyone should attend at least one Brave New Voices event. It seems everyone is always talking about the future, but the future is hardly ever in the conversation

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) June 20, 2012

Youth Speaks, the San Francisco performing arts leading nonprofit presenter of Spoken Word performance, education and youth development programs in the country, today announces the participating teams and schedule of public events for the 15th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. As seen on HBO, this year’s Brave New Voices Festival will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area, from Tuesday, July 17 – Sunday, July 22. Bringing together more than 500 young artists, outspoken activists, educators, poets and emerging leaders for five days of open mics, preliminary poetry slams and writing workshops, the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival culminates in the Grand Slam Finals on July 21 at the Fox Theater in Oakland.

Taking place in a different U.S. city each year, the Brave New Voices Festival features young poets and their mentors in teams from over 50 cities across the globe, from New York and Chicago to South Africa and Taiwan. Each team is comprised of poetry slam winners from their local communities, representing thousands more young artists back at home. The teams are hosted by Youth Speaks, which was founded in San Francisco in 1996 by Executive Director James Kass. Brave New Voices was created in 1998 after the inaugural Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam in San Francisco—the first poetry slam dedicated to youth in the nation’s history. Since that time, Brave New Voices has grown to become the largest ongoing spoken word event in the world. Now in its 15th year, Brave New Voices 2012 will host these young artists and their mentors on the campus of University of California, Berkley, and in various Bay Area venues, all participating in a celebration and demonstration of free speech, artistic empowerment, and youth voice.

“I think everyone should attend at least one Brave New Voices event. It seems everyone is always talking about the future, but the future is hardly ever in the conversation,” said Kass. “Brave New Voices brings together this incredibly diverse population of young people from all over the country, and increasingly the globe. It is the future. It is the voice of the 21st Century.”

Teams registered for Brave New Voices 2012 include those from:

Albuquerque, NM
Anchorage, AK
Ann Arbor, MI    
Atlanta, GA    
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Baton Rouge, LA
Caroboro, NC
Chapel Hill, NC
Chicago, IL
Cleveland, OH
Columbia, CT
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO    
Detroit, MI
Flint, MI
Greensboro, NC
Hampton, VA
Honolulu, HI
Houston, TX
Kansas City, MO
Little Rock, AR
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Madison, WI
Miami, FL
Nashville, TN
New York, NY
Orlando/Tampa, FL
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Pine Ridge, SD
Pomona, CA
Providence, RI
Richmond, VA
Rochester, NY
Sacramento, CA
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
San Jose, CA
Seattle, WA
Selma, AL
Stockton, CA
Tucson, AZ
Washington, DC

International
Bermuda
Guam
Leeds, UK
New Zealand
South Africa
Taiwan

Brave New Voices Slam teams are made up of 4-6 of the top poets from each represented city or country (13-19 years old) and one to two coaches/mentors who support them. The members of the San Francisco Bay Area team won their spots competing in the 16th Annual Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Grand Slam Finals on April 27, 2012, at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. They are:

•     Nyabingha McDowell (15) from Richmond, attends Salesian High School (Grand Slam Champion)
•     Obasi Davis (16) from Oakland, attends Berkeley High School
•     Colleen Hamilton-Lecky (15) from Berkeley, attends Berkeley High School
•     Allison Kephart (17) from Pacifica, attends Oceana High School
•     Marje Kilpatrick (15) from Richmond, attends Holy Names High School
•     Queen Nefertiti Shabazz (17) from Berkeley, attends Lick-Wilmerding High School

Over the course of five days there is an array of events and activities that are primarily open to participants and their mentors, such as open mics, writing and leadership workshops, as well as classes in running non-profits and writing grant proposals for past participants, local educators and nonprofit leaders. There are also preliminary spoken word poetry bouts and slams that are open to the public, including the culmination of the festival, the Brave New Voices Grand Slam Finals, which brings together the best of the best youth poets from their respective cities. In order to make it to the Grand Slam Finals, each team must first compete in the Brave New Voices Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals during the Festival. Only four teams will move on to battle for the Brave New Voices crown at the Grand Slam Finals on July 21, 2012, at the Fox Theater in Oakland.

The following is the schedule of the 2012 Youth Speaks Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival events that are open to the public:

Writing and Performance Workshops
Led by leading practitioners from across the United States.
Wednesday, July 18
Everett Middle School (450 Church St.)
San Francisco
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Open to youth ages 13-19. Free. Space is limited. Registration required at http://www.bravenewvoices.org.

International Youth Poetry Slam Quarter-Finals
Thursday, July 19
Berkeley (Various venues)
10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
All ages. Free.
See bravenewvoices.org for venue details and to reserve a seat.

International Youth Poetry Slam Semi-Finals
Friday, July 20
Berkeley (Various venues)
11 a.m.
All ages. Free
See bravenewvoices.org for venue details and to reserve a seat.

Hear the Children Left Behind
Youth from across the country speak out on the state of public education.
Saturday, July 21
Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Oakland
2 p.m.
All ages. Free. No reservations required.

Grand Slam Finals
15th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam
Saturday, July 21
Fox Theatre (1807 Telegraph Ave.)
Oakland
7 p.m.
All ages
$6 for youth under 20, $20 general admission, $50 VIP tickets at http://www.bravenewvoices.org.
The Grand Slam Finals historically sell out with a standing-room-only capacity crowd.

VIP ticket holders are treated to a pre-show reception at 5:30 p.m., VIP balcony seating, and a post-show Q&A session with Youth Speaks’ founder and executive director James Kass and VIP guests.

For tickets and additional information, please visit http://www.bravenewvoices.org. http://www.youthspeaks.org/

About Youth Speaks Inc.
Founded in 1996, Youth Speaks is the leading nonprofit presenter of Spoken Word performance, San Francisco art education, and youth development programs in the country. Presenters of local and national youth poetry slams, festivals, reading series, San Francisco poetry readings, and more, Youth Speaks also offers a comprehensive slate of literary arts education programs during the school day and after school, and provides numerous publication and youth development programs. All together Youth Speaks works with 45,000 teens per year in the Bay Area and has created partner programs in 60 cities across the United States.

For more information please visit http://www.youthspeaks.org.

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