> What is the history of the HBO Brave New Voices Project?
For the last few years, James Kass, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and others have been working with Stan Lathan on making sure that young people were booked onto HBO’s Def Poetry. When Russell Simmons and Stan first launched Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, they tried it out in SF, and saw the incredible audiences and talents we had here. Further, for the last few years, James, Bamuthi and others have been pitching the idea of the Brave New Voices series throughout Hollywood, and Stan Lathan agreed to make it happen. He brought it to HBO – which is the perfect place, as we didn’t have to censor the youth.
> Why did Youth Speaks want to make Brave New Voices (the HBO Show)?
This project helps to raise the visibility of youth voices, giving them a national platform on a network that will not censor or stereotype them. It also raises the visibility of the work of Youth Speaks and the youth spoken word movement as a whole. The show illustrates a small slice of the work we’ve been doing and the movement that we’ve helped grow. Our hope is that this show will allow us to begin to generate the attention and resources we need to sustain the work – both locally and nationally.
> What’s Russell Simmons’ relationship to Youth Speaks?
Russell Simmons serves as one of the Executive Producers of Brave New Voices (on HBO), and has funded the Brave New Voices Festival through his foundation, Rush Philanthropic.
> Is Russell Simmons Presents Brave New Voices a documentary?
HBO is classifying it as an original series, but it documented the lives and poetry of kids from seven parts of the country for five months, and also filmed the Brave New Voices Festival in 2008 in Washington DC.
> What is Youth Speaks’ relationship with HBO?
Youth Speaks has been working with HBO’s Def Poetry for a few years, but this was our first direct relationship with HBO. HBO provided some corporate support for the 2008 Brave New Voices Festival. The TV series has three main partners – Youth Speaks, Simmons-Lathan Media Group, and HBO. HBO is interested in continuing the partnership down the road.
> Did Youth Speaks make money through the HBO partnership?
HBO offered a small sponsorship of Brave New Voices, and paid a licensing fee to have the exclusive rights to film the 2008 festival, as well as to use the name “Brave New Voices.” Youth Speaks is named throughout the series, and will receive a percentage of the profit of DVD sales. Youth Speaks also has the exclusive right to make corresponding educational materials.