Word Power! Open Mic

On Friday, 2/24, the JVN Project will be hosting the 5th Word Power! Open Mic/Poetry Slam of the school year. This months slam will be at the Goodman Community (149 Waubesa St Madison, WI 53704) from 5:30pm-9:30pm.

The event is for youth between the ages of 13-19, but of course adults are more than welcome to come watch and support. There will be an open mic where youth will be able to get on stage and share poetry, songs, play an instrument, do a dance, etc. There will also be a two round poetry slam. Where students must perform two original poems that are no longer than three minutes and thirty seconds. Their poems will be judged be a panel of five people on a scale of 0-10 with the highest and lowest scores dropped and the three in the middle added together. A perfect score being 30.0. The top three students in the slam will earn spots to compete for a chance to represent Madison at the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival. This is the fourth chance to qualify for a spot in the Madison City Finals happening at the Overture Center in April!

Schedule:

5:30-6:30pm--Writing Workshop

6:30-7pm--Sign Up

7-7:30pm--Open Mic

7:30-9pm--Slam

9-9:30pm--Feature Performance

There is also a feature this month! Our feature is Nesha Ruther out of Maryland!!

Nesha Ruther is a Freshman at UW Madison by way of Takoma Park, Maryland and a member of First Wave's 10th cohort. She was a member of the 2015 DC Youth Slam Team where she performed at Brave New Voices in Atlanta and travelled to South Africa as part of their poetry and social justice tour. She was a 2016 Young Arts winner in spoken word and has had writing published in literary magazines such as Beltway Poetry Quarterly and Mochila Review. One time Nikki Giovanni read a poem of hers and liked it.

The event is FREE! Even if you do not wish to compete or share a poem we need judges and audience members.

If you have any questions please feel free to email jvnp.national@gmail.com

press release: On various Fridays during the school year, the JVN Project will be hosting the Word Power! Open Mic/Poetry Slam. This year's locations include the Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa St. (Oct. 14, Dec. 9, Feb. 24, May 26); Lussier Community Education Center (Nov. 4, Jan. 20, March 24); and Overture Center (April 28), all from 6:30p-9:00p.

The event is for youth between the ages of 13-19, but of course adults are more than welcome to come watch and support. There will be an open mic where youth will be able to get on stage and share poetry, songs, play an instrument, do a dance, etc. There will also be a two round poetry slam. Where students must perform two original poems that are no longer than three minutes and thirty seconds. Their poems will be judged be a panel of five people on a scale of 0-10 with the highest and lowest scores dropped and the three in the middle added together. A perfect score being 30.0. The top four students in the slam will earn spots to compete for a chance to represent Madison at the Brave New Voices International Poetry Festival. This is the first chance to qualify for a spot in the Madison Finals happening in April at the Overture Center!

The event is FREE! Even if you do not wish to compete or share a poem we need judges and audience members. So please come out and support these talented and amazing young artists!