The Worcester Youth Poetry Slam

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Alex Charalambides

(508) 450-6952

worcesteryouthslam2004@yahoo.com

Alex Charalambides steps down from Worcester Youth Poetry Slam to help spearhead State Wide Youth Festival.

Youth Poet Alumni Kate Richardson named new Director & Coach

Worcester, January 3^rd, 2012 – Since 2003, Worcester Performance Poet & Youth Activist Alex Charalambides has been working independently to offer teen writers opportunities to develop their spoken word craft, build community and help connect Worcester to the burgeoning national youth poetry community. As of January 1^st, 2012, Mr. Charalambides is stepping down from the program he started in order to take a position with Mass L.E.A.P. (Massachusetts Literary Education & Performance) a collective he co-founded this past year. Mass L.E.A.P. is working to create even more opportunities for youth state wide, including the creation of the inaugural 2012 Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts Festival, slated to take place late March, early April 2012.

According to their mission statement (www.massleapcollective.org) “Mass L.E.A.P. is a network of artists, educators, and students working together to create a vibrant youth poetry community across Massachusetts. We work to connect teaching artists with schools and other organizations in order to create opportunities for the youth of the Commonwealth to experience, create, and perform poetry. Our goals are to empower the voices of young people, foster creativity, promote literacy, and build community.” The collective was Co-Founded along with “Louder than a Bomb Chicago” Co-Founder Anna West, Chicago Alumni Amanda Torres, Boston Youth Activist Ayano Strickland, National Poetry Slam Champion & Educator Regie Gibson & Boston Poet Jade Sylvan. Starting in Miss West’s living room in Belmont, the group quickly gained a following, expanding their numbers through out reach and organizational summits. They now count over 30 active members in their ranks.

Aside from spoken word poetry curriculum development, teacher training, student workshops and open mic events, Mass L.E.A.P.’s biggest goal is to develop the very first state-wide youth poetry slam festival, modeled after the wildly successful Chicago Model, started by Miss West and Chicago Poet Kevin Coval. Mass L.E.A.P. expects over 20 middle & high school teams to participate in its first year. In conjunction with their fiscal sponsor Mass Poetry (creators of the annual Mass Poetry Festival), they’ve coordinated dates for Louder than a Bomb Mass. March 30^th, up to 500 middle & high school students will participate in a day of workshops and readings at MIT. March 31^st, over 20 teams will compete in team poetry slam preliminary competitions. April 1^st, the top 8 ranked teams will compete in semi-finals to choose the 4 finalist teams, to compete for a poetry slam championship on April 13^th.

For the past 8 years, Mr. Charalambides has organized independent youth poetry slams around Worcester in order to encourage young voices to speak their stories. He’s held free writing workshops through the support of the Worcester County Poetry Association. He’s raised funds, coached and chaperoned over 30 teen poets to the annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival. Worcester made it to semi-finals for the first time this past summer. “The festivals have been an amazing experience, not only for these poets, many of whom still remain active in the poetry scene, but also for my development as a teaching artist and organizer. As much as I’d love to continue both programs, I felt it would benefit so many more local area teen writers to establish a state wide festival to engage more of our students, rather than make this annual trip. Perhaps there’ll be a time when Worcester can send a team to both Louder than a Bomb Mass & Brave New Voices, but for now, I feel that we have the resources here to build something that can match the energy and community that exists on the national level.” says Charalambides.

“It is a conflict of interest to organize a youth poetry competition and manage a team that’s competing. The Worcester Youth Poetry Slam will continue to exist, and for me, it’s such a point of pride that it will continue, even as I step down in my official capacity,” continues Charalambides “Kate Richardson was one of our youth poetry slam stars on the 2008 & 2009 teams. She co-coached the team with me this year and has such a talent for connecting poets to their performances. I believe her work with the team this year helped us advance to semi finals for the first time! It’s been really gratifying to know that the 2012 team will be in such capable hands.”

Along with these moves, the Worcester Youth Poetry Slam will now take place monthly at the Poet’s Asylum Reading & Slam Series, which happens ever Sunday at W.C.U.W. Community Radio at 910 Main Street in Worcester. (www.poetsasylum.org) Co-Coordinators Sarah Sapienza & Elizabeth Heath have generously offered to house the youth poetry slam. There will be a monthly youth poetry slam competition at the Asylum. The last qualifying poetry slam will take place Sunday January 15^th at 7pm. The team finals will take place February 5^th. Top 6 ranking poets from that night will represent Worcester at the 2012 Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts Tournament.

For the past 3 years, youth slams have been housed at Clark University, as part of the Worcester Unified Poetry Slam Series. Sponsored in part by the Worcester Arts Council and Coordinated with the Clark University Poetry Slam Club, the series hosted world renowned spoken word artists and held poetry slam competitions for both the youth and college crowds. “The Clark Scene had been defunct for a couple years,” Charalambides explains, “when the Java Hut Closed down, there was just no obvious place for us to hold youth slams, I really saw the potential for larger audiences and increased out-reach, basing our series at a great school like Clark. I’m super proud to say that the Clark Scene is strong enough to hold its own as a reading series. I plan on continuing to support their efforts, but felt the time was right to separate the two slam competitionss.”

Mr. Charalambides is a 2011 Worcester Arts Council Fellowship Recipient. He’s recently been named a 2011 Worcester Magazine “Hometown Hero” and Pulse Magazine’s “12 to watch in 2012.” He views this temporary position, co-coordinating the Louder than a Bomb Massachusetts Festival (along with Mass L.E.A.P. co-founder Amanda Torres) as a huge step towards developing a career as youth poetry organizer & activist. He believes wholeheartedly that he’s following in his parents footsteps. His father Nicholas Charalambides & mother Chrysanthi Charalambides were longtime Worcester Republican Party Activists. “I’m just like them, I’ve chosen a different arena, but I learned at a young age that if you care about something, you have to roll your sleeves up and get involved. I’m amazed at how supportive they’ve been over the years. I understand that most parents would take pause when their son announces that he wants to make a career out of poetry.”

THIS FRIDAY, November 18th, 2011

Qualifier Slam #2 Worcester Youth / Clark University UNIFIED Poetry Slam Series

Higgins Student Center, Clark University 950 Main Street, Worcester

We’ll be holding this event in “The Bistro” First Floor in the Student Center

7pm – Slam Sign-Up & Short Mini Spoken Word Showcase
…
7:30 – Mass L.E.A.P. presents the second qualifying youth poetry slam for Worcester Area Teens (13-19 years of age) to earn points towards qualifying for the 2012 Worcester Youth Poetry Slam Team, slated to compete at the inaugural LOUDER THAN A BOMB / Massachusetts next spring! Poets need to bring two poems, 3 minutes in length or less and must not use music, props or cos…tumes. Judges will be chosen randomly from the audience. Poets receive a ranking depending on their cumulative score. Mass L.E.A.P. (Literary Education & Performance) is a new state wide collective, working to increase opportunities for young writers to share their writing statewide! The Worcester Youth Poetry Slam is teaming up to engage with other local Massachusetts Communities.

8:30 – Featured Performer – Denver Colorado Poetry Slam Star & Recent Worcester Transplant PAULIE LIPMAN. For more info about the feature go to http://paulielipman.com/

9:00 – Clark University Poetry Slam Qualifier – Open to Clark University Poets. 2 rounds, same rules apply. Point system also in place to help select finalists for the 2012 Clark University Poetry Slam Team, looking to compete at Regional Poetry Slams in the coming year.

Hosted by Youth Slam Director Alex Charalambides

$5-10 Suggested donation. This event is free and open to the public, but we ask for community support to help raise funds for both Clark Poetry Slam & Youth Slam Teams.

Saturday, September 24th, 2011 7pm-10pm / Kick-Off Event for the 2011/2012 Worcester Youth & Clark University “Unified” Poetry Slam Season!!!

Razzo Hall / Traina Center For the Arts. A beautiful 190 seat theater, located at 92 Downing Street, (towards Peppercorns on Park Avenue.) This is our first event in this beautiful hall, help us fill it!!!

7pm – Slam Sign-Up & Short Mini Spoken Word Showcase
…
7:30 – Mass L.E.A.P. presents the first qualifying youth poetry slam for Worcester Area Teens (13-19 years of age) to earn points towards qualifying for the 2012 Worcester Youth Poetry Slam Team, slated to compete at the inaugural LOUDER THAN A BOMB / Massachusetts next spring! Poets need to bring two poems, 3 minutes in length or less and must not use music, props or costumes. Judges will be chosen randomly from the audience. Poets receive a ranking depending on their cumulative score. Mass L.E.A.P. (Literary Education & Performance) is a new state wide collective, working to increase opportunities for youth to share their writing statewide! The Worcester Youth Poetry Slam is teaming up to engage with other local Massachusetts Communities.

8:30 – Featured Performer – TARA HARDY – 7 Time Finalist at National Poetry Slam  Tournaments, 3 time Seattle Poetry Grand Slam Champ. Working class queer femme poet on a North East Book Tour in support of her latest full length collection, “Bring Down the Chandeliers,” out on Write Bloody Press. She’s Founder of the BENT Writing Institute in Seattle. Current Writer in residence at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle. She currently tours the United States as a poet, keynote speaker and teaching artist. She’s one of the fiercest and most respected performance poets working today!!! Visit her at www.tarahardy.net

“Her poems are hard at work, constantly seeing and telling. There is no death in her work. Only resurrection… she risks more than anyone, but expects no accolades. Instead, she does it to promote the sort of compassion and respect that everyone deserves, no matter where they come from.” – Rachel McKibbens, author of Pink Elephant
9:00 – Clark University Poetry Slam Qualifier – Open to all Clark University Students and Employees. 2 round poetry slam, same rules apply. Point system also in place to help select finalists for the 2012 Clark University Poetry Slam Team, looking to compete at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational Tournament next spring.
This event is generously being co-sponsored by Clark OPEN club (LGBTQ group on Clark Campus). There will also be an opportunity for students to participate in a writing workshop, with Artist Q&A
the following Sunday Afternoon. Please email Clark Poetry Slam Co-Chair, Eric Devenney for more information.
Hosted by Youth Slam Director Alex Charalambides

$5-10 Suggested donation. This event is free and open to the public, but we ask for community support to help raise funds for both Clark Poetry Slam & OPEN Clubs.

Please help us spread the word and make this night one to remember! You can help by forwarding this invite to all those who are inspired by performance poetry and wish to support the next generation of amazing writers!

Video of our featured artist!

Dear Community,

September is upon us, a new season of the Worcester Youth Poetry Slam is set to begin on September 24th. I’d like to take this opportunity to briefly outline & explain a new course of direction for our program, while allowing space for community input.

Since 2003, I’ve done my best to create an engaging, dynamic youth based poetry series, from weekly shows at the old Worcester Artist Group Space on Harlow Street, to our current monthly series at Clark University, I’ve worked hard to bring diverse, talented artists to our stage, I’ve raised money, (spent my own when I had no time to raise it), coached, hosted, reached out, and tried my best to connect with the national youth community through the Brave New Voices Festival, while trying to build a strong local scene.

There have been successes and mis-steps, re-organizations and do-overs. I want this season to be a successful one, but for my part, I have a new focus and very much wish to put my energy where it will best serve the most youth writers possible.

I love Brave New Voices. I’ve attended every festival since 2004, have chaperoned 8 teams (including 26 teen poets) and seen it grow, more than doubling in size! Even though the 2011 Worcester team tasted our first tournament success this year (making semi-finals), I’ve been proud of every team I’ve taken, bringing fresh, innovative, engaging work. We don’t always score well, but we’ve always been good sports, connected and have received respect from our peers. I’ve learned a great deal about mentoring, organizing, writing and flat out being a person. I count these festivals as a huge part of what keeps me going in the performance poetry scene. I haven’t always agreed with certain aspects of the festival, but have always kept from openly criticizing the festival and national network. It’s a huge undertaking, it involves a lot of thankless work. I always told myself I’d refrain from that type of engagement until I was ready to offer specific solutions, or an alternative for youth to pursue the art of performance poetry elsewhere.

Organizing our annual trip to Brave New Voices has always been a challenge. Countless people have made personal contributions. We’ve gotten some community support, either through local cultural council grants, performance opportunities, merchandise sales, etc. But it’s been getting more difficult every year. (We fell over $2,000 short of our overall goal this year). I’m going to try to organize a few fund raisers to recoup this personal loss, but dealing with this current debt is forcing me to re-evaluate my position. It is what it is. I begin a slam season, promising to being a team to Brave New Voices, and I do everything in my power to live up to that personal commitment.

I don’t like to make decisions based on reactionary negative circumstances, but there is another new circumstance that is also playing into my current thinking. A very positive one in fact. That is MASS L.E.A.P. (Massachusetts Literary Education & Performance) a collective that I’ve co-founded this past year. Working with this group of creative, committed, talented people has made me realize the potential for greater community building right here in the Commonwealth. We’re getting a large following, support from Mass Poetry (a state-wide non-profit, responsible for the annual Mass Poetry Festival), creating working groups, receiving funding and mobilizing big plans to create school residencies, spoken word event series and a state-wide youth poetry slam festival, modeled after the Louder than a Bomb Festival in Chicago.

There WILL be a 2012 Worcester Youth Poetry Slam Team. We will hold weekly workshops and monthly poetry slams. However, the Worcester Youth Poetry Slam is now going to become a MASS L.E.A.P. Series. The 2012 Worcester Youth Poetry Slam Team will represent our community at the inaugural Louder than a Bomb / Massachusetts Festival, (slated for March / April 2012) participating and connecting with young writers from around the state. We’re going to work together and share our words, crossing town, city and neighborhood lines to build a state-wide community that I feel, will quickly blow up into a youth scene that can measure up to any in the world! This is where I want to put my energy. This is an organization that’s going to build in a way I’ve always dreamed of. I’ve already spent a huge part of my year helping to build the ground work and I plan to invest further. I believe in this.

As for Brave New Voices? This is no longer my end-all / be-all goal. I am currently connecting and working hard to create something that can measure up to the opportunities provided by Brave New Voices. If we can provide programming and stages and audiences right here, then that’s an opportunity I can’t pass up. I enjoy Brave New Voices, but so much energy and resources go into the planning, yet the annual trip only really benefits 4-6 teens in our community. I can do better. We can do better. I want to include more voices in this movement.

This is where I am at. Brave New Voices is a worthy festival and taking Worcester Area Voices there is a worthy goal, but not one I’m willing to invest in at his time, especially if I can work towards creating a real alternative that could benefit so many more youth in our community.

If the community wishes to send a team to the 2012 Brave New Voices Festival, I’m all ears and will admit that these two goals CAN co-exist. However, I am not personally working towards this goal in the upcoming months unless the community meets me (more than) halfway. I will hold monthly slams through December of this year. If the community can raise (or figure out how to raise) $3,000 by January 2012, I will get on board and work towards BOTH goals. But I will not be leading this charge. If this is something the community wants, then I will listen to proposals, offer advice, attend events, etc. I just will not hold myself responsible for organizing it.

No “you know what you should do”s only “here’s what we got planned…. here’s what we can do”s Fund-raisers, community event performances, investment in new merchandise, personal donations. Tell me HOW, show me YOUR commitment and it’s fully possible to offer BOTH opportunities to our young poets.

I want to thank all the friends who I’ve brainstormed this over with. I want to thank everyone who’s ever donated, volunteered, cheered our teams on. I feel blessed that I’ve been able to steer this for so long, but I feel this new direction is needed. I do not wish to burn out and walk away. I want to do this for a living, for a life, for the right reasons and for the potential I see every time a brilliant young person rocks a microphone. It really keeps me going on so many levels, and this is the only feasible way I can see for it to keep keeping me going. I will work harder to welcome new volunteers, new ideas, new energy, new strategies. But this needs to be more of a collective action. As much as I personally want to return to Brave New Voices next year and build off the hard earned success of last year, I can’t reasonably expect that to happen under the current circumstances. I want to be CLEAR on this before the 2011/2012 season begins so that I can live up to my own personal commitments. This can only happen if you want it to happen.

Thank You,

Alex Charalambides

NorthBeast Regional Youth Poetry Slam Invitational!
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Saturday, July 16th, 2011 – 1pm-3:30pm

WCUW Community Radio Front Room, Home of the Sunday Night Poet’s Asylum Series!

Come support the home town 2011 Worcester Youth Poetry Slam Team, as they gear up for their trip to the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival, happening July 20th-24th in San Francisco!
Teams invited include Providence, Connecticut, Lowell and Portland!!!
We’re hoping for a full 5 team slam.
Let’s get together and celebrate these young, gifted, powerful voices!
Hosted by Worcester Youth Slam Director & 2011 Worcester Arts Council Fellowship Grant Recipient Alex Charalambides.
Short Open Mic – Special Guests!
2011 Worcester Youth CD’s will be available!
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This is a Fund raiser to help support the team’s travel expenses
Poetry Slam is the competitive art of performance poetry. Teams of teen writers hit the stage and compete for points from judges, randomly chosen from the audience. The team will end the evening, featuring at Audio Graffiti in Jaffrey, New Hampshire!

Due to Summer Vacation Schedules, 2011 Youth Team Preparations and lack of consistent attendance. Worcester Youth Poetry Slam will be suspending our weekly youth writing workshops until the fall.

Thanks for you interest. Contact us late August to get the scoop on the new school year series. Thanks to those who’ve attended and shown an interest. Enjoy the summer!

After 6 regular season preliminary poetry slams and 2 spirited rounds of grand slam finals poetry, the top 6 scoring youth teen poets, TAYLOR LILJEGREN, AMIANA BANKS, ERIC DEVENNEY, JACIE CLOUTIER, ANNA MEEHAN and PHIL O’CONNOR earned their spots on the 2011 Worcester Youth Poetry Slam Team!

We are traveling to the 2011 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival this July to compete, connect, represent Worcester and wax poetic with 50 teams from around the world!

We could use some help from the community! Please consider making a donation to help the team raise registration and travel funds. All told, this trip’s going to cost close to $4,500. We do our best to book paying gigs at slam enues, bookshops, libraries and schools, but this only covers part of our expenses.

We are willing to accept checks, cash and credit card donations at events, but to make donating easier, we’ve been using a PayPal account the last couple years. If you’d like to contribute please click the link below:

BONUSES – contributions over certain amounts will net you some sweet Worcester Youth Slam Merchandise. Our humble thank you to our community supporters!

$25 – 2011 Team Chapbook, autographed by the team.

$50 – 2011 Team CD

$75 – 2011 Worcester Youth Poetry Slam T-Shirt plus choice of book or cd.

$100 – Combination of Book, CD & T-Shirt

$200 – Combination of Book, CD, T-Shirt & Glossy Team Photo, Signed by Team.

$250 – Combo Pack, Extra T-Shirt (to share) and a personal thank you poem, written by Youth Slam Director, Alex Charalambides. (you pick a topic, subject, form, you name it)!

$500 – Corporate or Individual Grand Donor Status. Company Logo & link, or personal name & picture will be included on our website and thank you displayed on next years merchandise, materials & personal thanks at events.

The 2011 WORCESTER YOUTH POETRY “GRAND SLAM” FINALS!

11 Teen Writers from the Worcester Area are qualified to compete for a chance to represent us at the Brave New Voices International Youth Festival, celebrating their 15th year in San Francisco this July! The top 6 scoring poets will get automatic bids on the team and win all expense paid opportunities to share their work and build community with 50 communities from around the country and beyond! This will be our 7th year of sending a team to this Festival! Over 80 teams applied, and Worcester received one of the 50 slots! Teen poets attend workshops, special performances, compete in the youth poetry slam tournament and connect with their peers for an amazing week of national community building!

Jacie, Taylor, Phil, Eric, Amiana, Diamond, Amanda, Anna, Allison, Asa and Zoe are all qualified to compete. They have either placed in the top three for one of our qualifying slams or have received a participation point from one of our outside slam events.

Special congrats to Jacie Cloutier for being our regular season point champion!

EVENT DETAILS:

Saturday, April 2nd, Clark University, Daniels Theater in Atwood Hall (Entrance on Downing Street) please click Clark Campus Map for details on location.We’re super lucky and grateful to the Clark U. Slam Club for securing this spacious 600 plus seat historic theater which once hosted concerts by the like of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead!)

7-10pm – Opening Worcester Spoken Word Showcase

2 round Grand Slam Poetry Slam. Top 6 cumulative scorers make the team! We will do our best to invite a panel of educators and community activists to serve as judges.

Clark University Poetry Slam Club Showcase

PLUS Special Featured Guest Poet:

Hailing from Manchester, New Hampshire, Mckendy Fils-Aime is a 3 time competitor at the National Poetry Slam, representing Slam Free or Die (2008, 2010) and Worcester Poet’s Asylum (2009). He was also a finalist for the 2010 Boston Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam Team. In January of 2011, he toured the country as part of a poetry quartet called No More Ribcage. Some of his work can be found literary journals such as Amoskeag, Radius, Smashcake, and Borderline. When not performing poetry, you can find Mckendy eating sweets and writing bad heart metaphors. One of the brightest your stars on the New England Spoken Word Poetry Scene with equal part dedication to both craft and performance!

Hosted by Youth Slam  Director and 2011 Worcester Arts Council Fellowship Grant Recipient Alex Charalambides.

$10 suggested donation. This event is a fund raiser to help support both the Worcester Youth Poetry Slam and the Clark University Poetry Slam Club. Merchandise will also be available. We can also accept donation via credit card.

Hey Everybody!
The regular season for the Clark / Worcester Youth Poetry Slam has come to an end! 7 teen poets are qualified for our March 26th Grand Slam Youth Finals.
We’ve decided to offer 2 more teens a shot at competing to be on this years team. We’re going to have a special “Last Chance” poetry slam. 2 rounds for teens who’d like to compete, top two scoring poets over 2 rounds makes it into the finals list. Poets who have already earned points this season will not be allowed to slam. This competition is open to those who’ve not yet qualified.

MARCH 2nd, 7-9:30pm

WCUW FM Front Room, 910 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610

Open Mic, Last Chance Slam, Musical Performance &

Another added bonus for this evening!

2 amazing traveling poets are going to be in town and we want to welcome them to a Worcester Stage! Ken Arkind coordinates the Denver Youth Poetry Slam. One of the teen poets he works with has been given permission by his school to go on a week long vacation tour, and then write about his experience for a class project. The 3-0-3 area code is very close to the 5-0-8′s hearts, so we’re sponsoring this special event to welcome them and see how they do in Colorado. KEN ARKIND is a National Poetry Slam Champion and full time touring artist who has performed his work in almost all of the Lower 48, Hawaii and Canada. With Panama Soweto he is one half of The Dynamic Duo, The nations most highly booked Spoken Word act for the past 2 years. He has been featured in The Documentaries SPIT!, Slamplanet, CBS, NBC and Borders.com’s Open Door Poetry series alongside U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. He was a member of the highly influential Spilljoy Ensemble tour, a collection of The country’s premiere young Spoken Word Artists including Danny Sherrard, Jon Sands and Shira Erlichman and is currently the Project Coordinator for The Denver Minor Disturbance Youth Poetry Slam, a workshop and reading series that works with Denver youth poets between the ages of 13 and 19 throughout the Metro area. A regular fixture in The Denver Music Scene he has opened for acts like The Flobots, Gil Scott Heron, Devotchka, Sage Francis, Cloud Cult, Pulitzer Prize Winner Yusef Komunyaka and NPR’s Amy Goodman. His work has been published in numerous literary anthologies and Journals across the country and he has been arrested for being loud on several occasions. ELI LYNCH is a two time member of the Denver Minor Disturbance Youth Poetry Slam Team (’09, ’10), including the team that rocketed to finals stage at last year’s Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival. Eli’s powerful solo performance was instrumental in helping his team win their semi final match. He also won the Emcee Olympics Side Event at the Youth Tournament. He’s a student at Jefferson County Open High School and this is his first national tour!

PLUS!!!!

Greg McKillop aka Speaker for the Dead will be playing an acoustic music set. We’ll also offer an open mic for those who’d like to share their work.

Hosted by Youth Slam Director Alex Charalambides
$5 suggested donation at the door. (if money’s an issue, please contact me and maybe we can work some kind of volunteer exchange deal).

Please spread the word. Ken and Eli are amazing poets who don’t get a chance to visit all that often. They’re coming a long way, and we really want to hear them and show them our East Coast Hospitality.