Youth Speaks was founded in San Francisco in 1996, and remains committed to working with Bay Area youth to find, develop, publicly present and apply their voices as leaders for social change. Through a series of programs that integrate arts education, civic engagement, youth development practices, and artistic presentation, Youth Speaks works with close to 40,000 Bay Area youth each year. At Youth Speaks, the life of young people is the primary text.
Brave New Voices is best known as the annual gathering of young poets from across the globe who take part in the International Youth Poetry Slam. Brave New Voices is also a network of over 70 organizations working with young people through the literary and performing arts, a television show that aired 2 seasons on HBO, and a growing social and cultural movement featuring the voices of 21st Century America.
The Living Word Project is the resident theater company of Youth Speaks, and is committed to producing literary performance in the verse of our time. The Living Word Project commissions, develops, produces and tours new theater work developed by a new emerging generation of artists. Living Word Project is the theater’s connection from Shakespeare’s quill to Kool Herc’s turntables; from Martha Graham’s cupped hand to Nelson Mandela’s clenched fist: a new voice for a new politic.
Through a partnership with Robert Redford and the Redford Center, Youth Speaks began moving youth into the center of the conversation around today’s critical environmental issues, while reflecting the diversity of the changing demographics of the country. Through this work, we began to have a new understanding of environmental literacy, which looked at the environments in which young people live and breathe. We’ve recently created the I Live Here project to create opportunities for a new generation of leaders to emerge articulate, thoughtful, engaged, knowledgeable, and unafraid to speak toward making local and global communities healthier places to live.
Queeriosity
Queeriosity is a literary arts and performance event that creates a safe space for LBGTQ youth to speak their truths to a supportive group of their peers and allies. Queeriosity is a place for queer and questioning youth to simply be, and have their emerging artistic and activist voices celebrated. It is for all of us that don’t and won’t fit the cookie cutter rubrics of American love and sexuality. If you’ve ever felt your identity overcrowding the tiny boxes, Queeriosity is for you.
Do you dream in poetry or write rhymes that move people? Do you know a young person whose talent jumps off the page? The cities of San Francisco and Oakland invite submissions from talented young writers (age 13-18) to be considered for this top literary honor for the first time ever: the title of Youth Poet Laureate. The winning poet (one in each city) will earn a $5,000 educational scholarship and embark on a year of publishing opportunities and public appearances as an ambassador for literacy, arts and youth expression. Spearheaded by Youth Speaks Inc. with Oakland Public Library, San Francisco Public Library and a broad group of community partners, we are looking for young writers who represent the best of the Bay. Is this your moment?Oakland and San Francisco Youth Poet Laureate Contests
The Under-21 Open Mics are designed as bi-weekly performance “open-houses” for new young writers and performers to flex their skills on the mic. Additionally, they establish safe spaces for poets to share work-in-progress and further cultivate their voice. Held in community locations throughout the East Bay and San Francisco, these events are hosted, produced, and promoted by members of Spokes, our Youth Advisory Board, Spokes, and are always FREE! Final Fridays are in San Francisco and Second Fridays are in Oakland. Check our Calendar.Under 21 Open Mic
Writing and Performance Workshops
Every year, Youth Speaks presents over 500 hours of free, after-school workshops to hundreds of teenagers in locations across the Bay Area. A place for artistic and critical growth, the after-school workshops focus on different aspects of writing, from fiction, playwriting, and poetry, to performance, desktop publishing, and poetry slam.Workshops are taught by leading poets, writers, spoken word artists, and cultural activists, and typically run in 5 to 10-week blocks. Each workshop is open to any teen 13 – 19 years old (unless otherwise noted). All workshops are free and no registration is necessary. Learn More.
