Press Release

 

The Rise Londonwide Youth Slam Championship 2007 –

Young voices of experience!

 

Slam is the word on the street and for the sixth year the Poetry Society and the Mayor of London are calling on all young performance poets, rappers and MC's across the boroughs of London to take part in the Rise Londonwide Youth Slam Championship 2007.

 

If you've got the words, the verse and the nerve to flaunt your skills over four exhilarating quarter finals at top London venues - as well as two live and kicking semi finals at City Hall - you could earn a chance to perform at London's Rise Festival in July 2007.

 

The power of words was made startlingly clear at one of last year's quarter finals when 18 year old Chris Preddie performed a moving account of how his 22 year old brother had "gone down in the dust". Having been on track himself for a life of crime, Preddie is now a youth worker and is determined to be a positive role model for other young people. As he says in his words "my voice is now my tool".

 

Not all stories were as dramatic but the urge to tell them was as strong. Whether asking 'gangsta wannabes' to think about their actions, explaining how young people don't feel trusted, or  celebrating living in Hackney and making your "big bubbling dreams' come true these young performers evoked a strong flavour of life in London.

 

Young people have a lot to say. The  Slam Championship allows them to say it in their own way and in a positive environment.

 

The Slam promotes greater access to education for the diverse minority ethnic  communities living in London by providing a vibrant framework in which to learn, and by focusing on non-traditional forms of literacy (spoken word, performance poetry and rap poetry). Participation in the slam widens young poets' understanding of the world and creates new opportunities for them which they did not previously have the skills to qualify.

 

If you are aged between between 12 and 18 years old you've got until Friday 6 April 2007 to register yourself.  Schools, youth centres, arts agencies, young offenders institutes and community groups may nominate up to two artists to represent them.

 

To find out more contact Joelle Taylor at jtaylor@poetrysociety.org.uk or Rise Londonwide Youth Slam Championship 2006, the Poetry Society, 22 Betterton Street, London, WC2H 9BX or telephone 0207 420 9893 or text name and address to 07757117667. Visit www.poetrysociety.org.uk.

 

The Rise Londonwide Youth Slam Championship is funded by the Big Lottery Fund, with additional support form the Mayor of London and Subtext (formerly known as Eastside Arts).

 

-ENDS-

 

To find out more or to interview Joelle Taylor (performance poet and coordinator of Londonwide Slam Youth Championship) and/or past slam entrants telephone Lisa Roberts or Helen Laing on 0207 420 9895 or email marketing@poetrysociety.org.uk.

 

Full colour images and spoken word CDs are available on request from marketing@poetrysociety.org.uk

 

 

Notes to editors

 

·        For further information about the Poetry Society visit www.poetrysociety.org.uk.

 

• The Big Lottery Fund distributes half of all National Lottery good cause funding across the UK. The Fund aims to enable others to make real improvements to the lives of disadvantaged people and the wellbeing of communities, through fair  and open funding of people, projects and programmes. www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

 

• The Rise festival will take place in a London park in July. It is a free music, dance and comedy event organised by the Mayor of London in partnership with the National Assembly Against Racism, which celebrates the city's diversity and its status as a great multicultural city with an active commitment to eliminating racism. Press information is available by calling Ben McKnight on 020 7983 4071. Public information is available at:  www.risefestival.org.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Search