*****IN MANHATTAN (4 WEEKS)*****


1. Transformers IV: you and your organic poem, you and your organic stage - Roger Bonair-Agard

Mondays, February 2-23, 4:30-6:30pm

This workshop will examine the work of Audre Lorde, Ross Gay, Rachel McKibbens, Terrance Hayes, and Carl Dennis. Using these contemporary poets' works, the participants will craft poems of wildly divergent styles, and begin the "conversation" of learning the organic lives of these poems on the page and in the body; how the poem gets to represent both the fire of the voice and its most tightly honed craft, and then move towards the most available fire in the body, and its tightly honed craft.


2. High Wattage:Elements of Performing the Poem - Regie Cabico & Parker Pracjek

Wednesdays, February 4-25, 4:30-6:30pm

How do we make performance choices that heighten the poem's life? How do we "live" the poem and not simply read the poem? The poem is your showstopper, your three minute solo play. We will explore the vocal & physical techniques for audiences to "see" the poem. From the professional slammer to the virginal journal poet, we will stretch your interpretation of your over-performed texts, and we will prepare you to kick your verses in the squint of the spotlight in a nurturing environment. Bring a poem, no more than a page long, comfortable shoes & clothes, your body and a packet of your emotional colors.


*****IN BROOKLYN (8 WEEKS)*****


1. NEW Native Style - Brooklyn Stories - Trish Hicks

Tuesdays, February 3- March 31, 4-6pm

This workshop continues to explore different forms of creativity and how they inspire writing, mc-ing and spoken word poetry. Use film, photography, music, collage, and other forms of artistic expression to tell the unique story of your life. From Wild Style to freestyle, your own personal style is the raw material for making your voice heard! Bring it!


2. Spoken Word: Dynamics in Delivery - Darian Dauchan

Thursdays, February 5 - March 26, 4-6pm

We will explore rhyme scheme and cadence, and the musicality of spoken word, by listening to and viewing works by a diverse array of performance poets, while continuing to write new poems, and tackling our own material. We will experiment with vocal climax, pacing, and crescendo in order to break free of monotonous or one-note performances.

email signup@urbanwordnyc.org to sign up or call 212-352-3495

NY Knicks & Urban Word NYC Present:

The 3rd Annual Pre-College Experience

* NYC's Biggest FREE College Fair at Madison Sq. Garden
* 45+ Colleges and Universities
* $150,000+ in scholarships and prizes
* Open Poetry Audition—Bring a 1-minute poem for a chance to win
* Live Entertainment all day—Spoken Word, Hip-Hop, Step Teams, Celebrity DJs, B-Boys & B-Girls, Knicks appearances!
* Financial Aid workshops and more!

Saturday November 15th 10AM-5PM

@ the MADISON SQUARE GARDEN EXPO CENTER

For more details visit: www.knickspoetryslam.com

Oh dip!

Udub Book Club is here!

(The Blurb)
Music, movies and life experiences can inspire your writing, but books do too! Have you read something that you wanted to discuss?

The Udub Book Club meets on the Second Sunday of every month to dig deeper and explore one book as a group. This is open to the entire Urban Word Community.

When? Second Sundays, 4-6pm at the Urban Word Office

First meeting:
September 14th - brief kick off at BK Book Fest (4PM)!
details: http://www.visitbrooklyn.org/calendar_details.php?idetail=359

More meeting dates:
Oct 12: Aracelis Girmay's Teeth will be discussed
Nov. 9
Dec. 14
Jan. 11, 2009

FREE AFTERSCHOOL WRITING WORKSHOPS FOR TEENS

Manhattan Site

242 W. 27th Street, between 7th and 8th Aves.

CREATIVELY COLLEGE BOUND - Erica Fabri
Mondays, September 22- December 8 4:30-6:30pm

This program is geared towards HS juniors & seniors who want their creative critical voice to soar over the tedium of the college application process. Using spoken word and hip-hop as inspiration, we will write high-quality college application essays and explore numerous scholarship opportunities. This workshop will put you on track to get into college, and to GET MONEY.

WOMEN REBORN - DJ Reborn
Tuesdays, September 23- December 9 4:30-6:30pm

In this workshop, critical artistic skills – turntabling, close reading, lyric analysis, collage building and creative writing– become the doorway to discovering women's contribution to these mediums and our world. Acclaimed female DJ and poet, DJ Reborn facilitates this workshop for teen WOMEN.

WORD TO EVERYTHING I LOVE - Willie Perdomo
Wednesdays, September 24- December 10 4:30-6:30pm

In this workshop, teens will explore personal voice, literary device and poetic forms in an uncensored, safe, student-centered environment. This workshop will be lead by award-winning poet Willie Perdomo, author of Where a Nickel Costs a Dime and Smoking Lovely, which won the 2004 PEN American Beyond Margins Award.

WORKING TOWARD R{u}{a}PTURE – Aracelis Girmay
Thursdays, September 25- December 11 4:30-6:30pm

Working toward rupture, working toward rapture will be a gathering ground for writers who are interested in honing their work by experimenting with notions of the ecstatic. We will read about Garcia Lorca's notion of duende while playing with elements of improvisation that can be used to strengthen the craft of certain poems. Writers should be ready to take risks, & to explore various art mediums & techniques in the poetry. One of the goals here is to write poems that somehow possess the bodies of the poets & the poems--possess these bodies with the world.

***

Brooklyn Site

St. John's Recreational Center, 1251 Prospect Place, Brooklyn, NY 11213

REELS & RHYMES - Frank Lopez
MONDAYS September 22- December 8, 4-6pm

Reels and Rhymes workshop blends screenings of films and documentaries with creative writing and open mics to initiate awareness and dialogue about social issues affecting today's youth.

NEW NATIVE STYLE - BROOKLYN STORIES - Trish Hicks

Tuesdays, September 23- December 9 4:00-6:00pm

This workshop explores different forms of creativity and how they inspire writing, mc-ing and spoken word poetry. Use film, photography, music, collage, and other forms of artistic expression to tell the unique story of your life. From Wild Style to freestyle, your own personal style is the raw material for making your voice heard! Bring it!

CREATIVELY COLLEGE BOUND - Erica Miriam Fabri

Wednesdays, September 24- December 10 6:00-8:00pm

This program is geared towards HS juniors & seniors who want their creative critical voice to soar over the tedium of the college application process. Using spoken word and hip-hop as inspiration, we will write high-quality college application essays and explore numerous scholarship opportunities. This workshop will put you on track to get into college, and to GET MONEY.

Summer Institute on Social Justice and Applied Poetics

July 8th – August 14th

Presented by Urban Word NYC and Bowery Arts & Science

1: ¡Revoliterature! The Poetry of Resistance & Change: This literature seminar will explore the writings of poets and activists who have used their art as a tool to create change. Each week, Urban Word NYC mentors will select a poet that has synthesized the gap between art and activism, as well as lead students through writing exercises that will transform their own narratives into vehicles of liberation. Poets studied include José Martí, Martín Espada, Aimé Cesairé, Gabeba Baderoon, Nathalie Handal, Suheir Hammad, Ethridge Knight, and Sonia Sanchez.

Urban Word NYC: Tuesdays July 8 – Aug. 12th 4:30 – 6:30PM

242 W. 27th St [btw. 7 & 8 Ave]

2: Write the Power: Poetry & Social Justice Master Class & Performance Series: This workshop will include lectures from well-known poets and writers who have used their art as an agent of change. Students will have the rare opportunity to work with Amiri Baraka, Sapphire, Beau Sia, Sapphire and others to explore the ways that these poets have infused their writings and world view to address and resist oppression and conservativism. Each night, these poets will give a performance and lecture that illuminates the role of poetry in creating change.

Master Classes @ Urban Word NYC: Wednesdays July 9th – August 13th 4:30 – 6:30PM

Performances @ Bowery Poetry Club: Wednesdays July 9th w/ Beau Sia, July 16th w/ Aracelis Girmay, July 23rd w/ Amiri Baraka, July 30th w/ Cornelius Eddy, August 6th w/ Sapphire, August 13th w/ Jared Paul . All shows 7:30 – 9PM

3: Applied Poetics: Making Poetry Work: Applied poetics is a poetics of urgency, relation and application. This means that the study of poetry isn't just about writing a well-crafted poem—it's about how poets live through the poems they write. Finding ample language in the diversity of shared vocabularies, our job is to bring charged words forward in all of their various usages, be they personal or political, abstract or confessional, performed or barely spoken.

Bowery Poetry Club: Thursdays July 10th – August 14th July 25th & Aug. 1st 4:30-6:30PM

308 Bowery (btw Houston & Bleeker)

Email shaun@urbanwordnyc.org to signup or call 212.352.3495 and please leave your full name, email, phone and the workshop(s) you're interested in signing up for. Word!

MANHATTAN!!

Spoken INC
Tahani Salah & Tara Betts
Mondays, March 17-May 26
You asked for it! You wanted help putting together a collection of work? Well Urban Word NYC has answered your calls. We'll cover basic bookmaking concepts, layout, short writing exercises and editing so participants can create their own chapbooks with individualized artistry. We will have opportunities for you to be published in anthologies and online contests. This workshop will also include multiple special guests from slam champions to rock stars of the writing world that will talk about their experiences in publishing.

Next Level Lit
Erica Fabri
Tuesdays, March 18-May 27
We will examine the works of poets whose words are beyond the boundaries of the typical high school textbook and discuss the lives of writers who have used their craft to make inspirational movements and changes in society. Next Level Lit is the follow-up course for Creatively College Bound and open to all teens ages 13-19.

Word to Everything I Love
Willie Perdomo
Wednesdays, March 19-May 28
In this workshop, teens will explore personal voice, literary device and poetic forms in an uncensored, safe, student-centered environment. This workshop will be lead by award-winning poet Willie Perdomo, author of Where a Nickel Costs a Dime and Smoking Lovely, which won the 2004 PEN American Beyond Margins Award.

Women Reborn through Popular Music, Media and Culture
DJ Reborn
Thursdays, March 20-May 29
This workshop hopes to define and critically examine the ever-evolving idea of womanhood and its expression through various artistic mediums. By encouraging and educating young women through djing, lyric analysis, collage art and writing, we will unearth the history of women's contributions to these mediums while implementing skills to empower young women not only in the arts but in the art of everyday life. Acclaimed female DJ and poet, DJ Reborn facilitates this workshop for teen WOMEN.

To sign up email signup@urbanwordnyc.org or call 212-352-3495

Urban Word NYC
242 W. 27th Street, btw 7th & 8th Ave
1 Train to 28th St. or C/E to 23rd St.

*****************************
BROOKLYN!!
Urban Word Brooklyn Free Spring Workshops @ Crown Heights Live!

Who's The Man?
Roger Bonair-Agard
Mondays, March 17-May 26
Facilitated by celebrated poet Roger Bonair-Agard, this workshop is exclusively for teenaged young men. This will be a safe space for each and every XY chromosomal being to tell it like it is. Through critical media analysis, creative writing and performance exercises, concepts of masculinity and femininity, as well, will be deconstructed, thoroughly examined and beautifully re-imagined.


Women Reborn
Trish Hicks
Tuesdays, March 18-May 27
In this workshop, critical artistic skills – close reading, lyric analysis, collage building, creative writing and turntabling – become the doorway to discovering women's contribution to these mediums and our world. Acclaimed writer and educator-activist, Trish Hicks, facilitates this workshop for teen WOMEN.

Next Level Lit
Erica Fabri
Thursdays, March 20-May 29
We will examine the works of poets whose words are beyond
the boundaries of the typical high school textbook and discuss the lives of writers
who have used their craft to make inspirational movements and changes in society.
Next Level Lit is the follow-up course for Creatively College Bound and open to all
teens ages 13-19.

To sign up email marc@urbanwordnyc.org or call 212-352-3495

1251 Prospect Place
between Schenectady & Troy
BROOKLYN!
A/C or 4 train to Utica Ave

10TH ANNUAL URBAN WORD NYC TEEN POETRY SLAM

To sign up email signup@urbanwordnyc.org or call 212-352-3495. Space is limited.

Spit for a chance to REPRESENT NYC at the National Teen Poetry Slam in Washington D.C. All expenses paid!! We honor all styles of poetry, spoken word, hip-hop and manifesto. To perform you must be 13-19 years old. When signing up, please specify which Preliminary Slam you'd would like to read at.

Preliminary & Semifinal Slam $5 teens/$7 adults/Free for performers
NEED DIRECTIONS, visit: www.urbanwordnyc.org

PRELIMINARY SLAMS:

Friday February 8th 6-9PM
The Point in the Bronx

Saturday February 9th 3-6PM
Nuyorican Poets Café

Sunday February 10th 3-6PM
Bowery Poetry Club

Monday February 11th 6-9PM
The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church

Wednesday February 13th 6-9PM
BAMcafé in Brooklyn

SEMIFINAL SLAMS:

Friday February 15th 6-9PM
Dance Theater Workshop

Friday February 22nd 6-9PM
The Point in the Bronx

Saturday February 23rd 3-6PM
Nuyorican Poets Café

Sunday February 24th 3-6PM
Bowery Poetry Club

GRAND SLAM FINAL

Saturday March 1st 7-10PM
Washington Irving High School
10th Anniversary Honorees: Afrika Bambaataa, MC K~Swift, Tahani Salah
Special guest host! Celebrity judges! Def Poets and special performances!
Beats by DJ Reborn!
This show is not to be missed.

Call 212-352-3495 for group rates

THE POINT SEMI-FINAL
FRIDAY January 11th at 6PM
@ The Point in The Bronx
(for directions to The Point visit www.urbanwordnyc.org or call 212-352-3495)

NUYORICAN SEMI-FINAL
SATURDAY January 12th at 3PM
@ the Nuyorican Poets Café
(for directions to the Nuyorican visit www.urbanwordnyc.org or call 212-352-3495)

BOWERY SEMI-FINAL
SUNDAY January 13th at 4PM
@ The Bowery Poetry Club
(for directions to The Bowery visit www.urbanwordnyc.org or call 212-352-3495)

click here to join

hollerate & tolerate

Urban Word NYC
New York Ci-taaaay

MANHATTAN!!

URBAN WORD NYC Performance Intensives!!

These performance intensives are aimed at making your performance intense!  Whether getting your skills tight for the 10th Annual NYC Teen Poetry Slam, or practicing for your own development, these workshops will take your poems, raps, rants and manifestos to the next level.  These workshops are FREE for teens!!

**Performance Poetry Boot Camp with Mahogany Browne
TUESDAYS 4:30 – 6:30 January 8, 15, 22 & 29

This is a performance poetry intensive. Learn how to ignite the crowd or make them cry with your voice, your words
and your movements.

Mahogany L. Browne, slammistress & Coach of the Nuyorican Grand Slam Team. She is the owner of PoetCD.com, Co-founder of SOUNDBiTES Poetry Festival & Jam On It Poetry & publisher of Penmanship Books (home of women's anthology HIS RIB).
 

**"How to Rock a Poem" with Rives
THURSDAYS 4:30 – 6:30 January 10, 17, 24 & 31

Stage-fright sucks--come learn how to get over it. Good poems are hot--come learn how to write them, customize them for your voice, and deliver them with presence. All levels welcome.

Rives has appeared on the last 4 seasons of HBO's "Def Poetry Jam," and he was a 2004 National Poetry Slam champion.

 
To sign up email signup@urbanwordnyc.org or call 212-352-3495

Urban Word NYC
242 W. 27th Street, btw 7th & 8th Ave
1 Train to 28th St. or C/E to 23rd St.

*****************************

BROOKLYN!!
Urban Word Brooklyn Free Winter Workshops @ Crown Heights Live!

**T.R.U.C.E. (Teens Reaching Understanding by Communicating Effectively) with K~Swift
MONDAYS 4:30 – 6:30 January 7th to February 25th

This program for TEEN MEN seeks to resolve conflicts between members of rival gangs through engaging members in in-depth discussions, personal creative writing, and performance-based spoken word and hip-hop.  This goal is achieved by equipping young people with knowledge of the history of U.S. gangs, the relationships between hip-hop and gang culture, and critical investigation into local gang violence and media related to it.
Women Reborn Through Music, Media, and Culture with Trish Hicks
TUESDAYS 4:30 – 6:30 January 8th to February 26th

In this workshop, critical artistic skills – turntabling, close reading, lyric analysis, collage building and creative writing– become the doorway to discovering women's contribution to these mediums and our world.  Acclaimed female DJ and poet, Trish Hicks facilitates this workshop for teen WOMEN.

**From the Page to the Stage with Jive Poetic
THURSDAYS 4:30 – 6:30 January 10th to February 28th

Slam champion and DJ, Jive Poetic will teach students how to take their writing to the next level in performance.  This workshop is a must for teens entering the 10th Annual Urban Word NYC Teen Poetry Slam!

To sign up email marc@urbanwordnyc.org  or call 212-352-3495

1251 Prospect Place
between Schenectady & Troy
BROOKLYN!
A/C or 4 train to Utica Ave