Mondays 5pm – 7pm starts June 7th
Rapha House 1201 Mendell Ave. SF, CA 94124

One Mic’s Urban Prophets will help grow a movement of young people utilizing word, sound, and po wer to tell their stories and help create change in their worlds—spiritually, politically, and artistically.

Young Urban Prophets write about their experiences with culture, Hip-Hop, relationships, comm unity, education, struggle—everything. Workshops are designed to encourage brave and creative expression. One Mic aims to draw out young voices to speak truth to this new youth culture.

For more info: Kirk Davis, 415-748-2047 or raphahouse@gmail.com

We are seeking Bay Area-based poets, spoken word artists, emcees, teaching artists, and hip-hop educators who are interested in joining us to help young people find, develop, and share their voice through the written and spoken word.

OPPORTUNITIES
As part of the Youth Speaks poet-mentor team, you will have the opportunity to:

• Positively impact and empower hundreds of youth across the Bay Area
• Receive training and mentorship from nationally acclaimed artists such as Beau Sia, Ishle Yi Park, and Marc Bamuthi Joseph
• Be part of the Brave New Voices movement as seen in the recent HBO documentary
• Receive class credit (in some cases)

POSITION DESCRIPTIONS

ELIGIBILITY

• 18 years or older (must not be enrolled in high school)
• Spoken word artist (We are also looking for emcees, writers, and performance artists, but our core is spoken word.)
• Previous performance experience required
• Previous experience with youth preferred
• Bi-lingual in Spanish or Cantonese a plus (not required)
• Commitment to social justice, educational equity, and positive youth development

HOW TO APPLY

To join the team, you must attend the audition on Thursday, July 1, between 4:00-8:00pm. Come prepared to perform 1 piece, and to talk about why you want to work with Youth Speaks.

** Auditions are by appointment only **

They will be held at the Youth Speaks office: 1663 Mission St, # 604, San Francisco.

To confirm your audition time, email the following to poetmentor@youthspeaks.org:

• Resume
• Text of the poem you will perform
• Sample lesson plan (for Poet-Mentor applicants)

Audition spots are limited. Secure your place as soon as possible.

If you absolutely cannot make that day/time, please let us know an alternative.

We will do our best to accommodate you, but there’s no guarantee outside of July 1.

Click here to see larger schedule.

—–

Youth Speaks Writing Workshops Spring 2010 Campaign

“We must become something we have never been and for which our education and experience and environment have ill-prepared us.  We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook…owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to…the human community.” – Haile Selassie

Write. Speak. Live.  Repeat.

EAST BAY

MONDAYS Korean Community Center of the East Bay

4390 Telegraph Ave Ste A Oakland, CA – 4 blocks north of MacArthur BART – on AC 1 & 18 – Starts April 12^th – 4 pm

Han w/ Michelle Mush Lee & Dennis Kim aka Denizen Kane

“There is no literal English translation. It’s a state of mind. Of soul, really. A sadness. A sadness so deep no tears will come. And yet still there’s hope.”  For the sufferers and soldiers and survivors of this thing we call Diaspora.

WEDNESDAYS RYSE CENTER

205 41^st St Richmond, CA – Starts April 14^th – 4 pm

The Art In Storytelling w/ Kevin Prophet Wright & Isa Nakazawa

If a painting could speak, what would it say?  If a poem could paint, what would it look like?  Inspired by the verbal pictures painted by Slick Rick, Langston Hughes, and Richmond’s own.  We will use visual arts, media and culture as prompts to tell our stories.  Let’s hear those paintings, spit, y’all!

THURSDAYS ARISE High School

3301 E 12^th Oakland, CA Ste 205 – directly off Fruitvale BART – Starts April 15^th – 4 pm

Anatomy Of Resistance w/ Meg Day

Come through to talk the real talk & walk the walk with the best minds of your generation. We’ll use our words as tools for healing, engines for growth & bullhorns of solidarity that cannot be silenced. We’ll write to reclaim the power of our stories, knowing we must be the change we wish to see in the world.

SAN FRANCISCO

TUESDAYS GLIDE Memorial Church

330 Ellis St SF, CA – Ellis between Jones & Taylor – short walk from Powell BART – Starts April 13^th – 4 pm

Living Water w/ Brandon Santiago & Dennis Kim aka Denizen Kane

Presented in collaboration with historic GLIDE Memorial Church, Living Water is a space for youth to speak to Spirit.  We’ll build about faith, love, hope, struggle, and the river that carries us through.  Come jump in the river.

THURSDAYS Contemporary Jewish Museum

736 Mission St SF, CA – between 3^rd & 4^th St – Starts April 8^th – 4:30 pm

From This to That w/ SPOKES

Come build with 9 of the mightiest young poetic minds in the Bay.  We are Palestinian, Mien, Cambodian, Black, White, Latino, Bay natives and transplants, migrants and refugees, Slam Champs, dropouts and graduates: a lost-found nation in a brave new world.  We’ll chop and write about anything and everything—international crisis and personal politics, truth and lies, how to stay sane and growing pains.  The word is the way.  Come through.

FRIDAYS Samoan Community Development Center

2055 Sunnydale Ave. SF, CA – get off at Balboa BART & take the 9 towards San Bruno – Starts April 16^th – 4pm

The Art of Storytelling w/ Drew Vai & Terisa Siagatonu

The Art of Storytelling is Youth Speaks’ first-ever workshop for Samoan youth & examines the intersection of self, the City, & the Sacred Center.  Based in Sunnydale, but open to youth from SoMA, Mission, Excelsior, Tenderloin, & your block.  Come discover your origin and build your own mythology.

Join hundreds of poets & fans from throughout the bay as they vie for a spot on the 2010 Brave New Voices Los Angeles.

Talk about transformation… this is the stuff you only find in Super Hero’s!

Get your tickets now.

$18 General Admission

$6 Under 24 or 65+

$50 VIP includes Reserved Seating, with a reception at Farmer Brown.

• Abel Pineda
• Amaraj Judge
• Andre Ashley
• Ashley Rose McDonnough
• Beulah Agbabiaka
• Bryant Phan
• Carmela Paula Gaspar
• Cassandra Euphrat Weston
• Christina Earl-Rockefeller
• Christsna Sot
• Desiree Wattis
• DeVaughn Glaze
• Dominic Nicholas
• Emmanuel Bakheit
• Erica McMath-Sheppard
• Eugene Riley
• Gretchen Carvajal
• Guillermo Palma
• Hadeel Ramadan
• James Lane
• Jasmine Williams
• Jason Bartlow Jr
• Jemal Williams
• Jenna Hewitt
• Jesse Barlow
• Jillian Jones Grant
• Joanna Padua
• Jordan Hadden
• Joshua Merchant
• Jozik Benitez
• Justine Yan
• Kevin Wright
• Kyla Ainsworth
• Larry Dorsey
• Lele Amanono
• Lindsey Mandell
• Mannie Rizvi
• Mariah Hanaike
• Maricar Bamba
• Melissa Aliu
• Melody Quach
• Micah Brumfield
• Michelle Williams
• Miles Bridges
• Natasha Huey
• Nestor Reyes
• Nhi Nguyen
• Noorjit Sidhu
• Obasi Davis
• Philip Enguancho
• Queen Shabazz
• Sanchez Luis
• Sandra Galvan
• Savannah Turley
• Simone Bridges
• Sofia Jimenez
• Stephanie Yun
• Tangi Gaddis
• Terouko Dobashi

Over 500 poets from across the Bay Area participate in the annual celebration of youth voice, literacy, and lyricism. Bay Area youth poets who have participated in the preliminaries at community venues in Oakland and San Francisco will perform at the Semi-Finals.18 Semi-Finalist will get the opportunity to perform at the Grand Slam Finals at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on Saturday, April 3rd.The East Bay Semi Finals will be at the historic Julia Morgan Young People’s Performing Arts Center, 2640 College Avenue, Berkeley  at the corner of College and Derby Streets. The U.C. Berkeley campus is 5 blocks to the north.

SAN FRAN SEMI-FINALS

$6.00 – $10.00 [Get Tickets]

SAN FRAN SEMI-FINALS

From March 19, 2010 through March 20, 2010 at 7:00 PM

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
151 Third St. San Francisco, CA 94704 [map it!]

EAST BAY SEMI-FINALS

$6.00 – $10.00 [Get Tickets]

EAST BAY SEMI-FINALS

From March 26, 2010 through March 27, 2010 7:00 PM

Julia Morgan Young People’s Performing Arts Center
2640 College Ave Berkeley, CA 94704 [map it!]

Unified District Poetry Slam (UDPS) Championship

Friday, February 26
7:00pm
Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco
Free & Open to the public!

Come witness the skill and power as the top 6 high school poetry slam teams from across the Bay Area perform for the title of Youth Speaks’ Unified District Slam champion!

For the first time ever, the District Slam is a team slam, so each school has a team of 4-5 poets representing them. Now open to schools beyond San Francisco and Oakland, this year’s slam includes teams from across the East Bay, North Bay, and Peninsula. Preliminary slam bouts take place the week of February 15 at the deYoung Museum and Laney College.

For more info, email jhealey@youthspeaks.org

In partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, deYoung Museum, Theater Department of Laney College, and the San Francisco Public Library.

Participating schools include:

SFUSD

• Balboa High School
• Downtown High School
• Wallenberg High School
• June Jordan School for Equity
• Burton High School
• Gateway High School
• O’Connell High School
• Galileo High School

OUSD

• Oakland School for the Arts
• McClymonds High School
• Life Academy
• Oakland High School
• Farwest High School
• Skyline High School
• East Oakland School of the Arts (EOSA)
• Metwest High School

S.L.A.M. Union

• San Leandro High School
• Cal Prep Academy (Berkeley)
• Tennyson High School (Hayward)
• Berkeley High School
• Sonoma Academy
• Irvington High School(Fremont)
• San Lorenzo High School
• El Camino High School (South SF)
• Kennedy High School (Richmond)
• College Park High School (Pleasant Hill)

All workshops start the week of January 18

Winter 2010

Write. Speak. Live. Repeat.

MONDAYS Downtown Oakland YMCA

2350 Broadway Oakland, CA – a few blocks away from 19^th St. BART – Starts January 18^th – 4 pm

Build Your Body Like a Fortress w/ Leah-Joy Turnbull

In remembrance that your body is a temple, exercise your writing to strengthen your inner essence. Build your words fortress strong. For all looking to write their world.

TUESDAYS Berkeley High

2223 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA, RM C325 – a few blocks away from Downtown Berkeley BART – Starts January 19^th – 4 pm

MOLOTOV MOUTH w/ Jamie DeWolf

Molotov Mouth is a slam boot camp designed to turn an open mic performer into a slam-winning juggernaut. We’ll attend live shows, discuss strategy and performance techniques, and discover how to win when you need to. Taught by HBO Def Jam Poet, Suicide King, Slam Champion, and host of the largest slam in the Bay Area, Jamie DeWolf.

THURSDAYS ARISE High School

3301 E 12^th Oakland, CA Ste 205 – directly off Fruitvale BART – Starts January 21^st – 4 pm

SLAM PREP w/ Meg Day

Ten straight weeks of raw, honest, down & dirty truth-saying. No more skirting the issue, no more hiding behind tight rhymes. You got a message? We want to hear it. Bring your shovel. We got digging to do.

MONDAYS Samoan Community Development Center

2055 Sunnydale Ave. SF, CA – get off at Balboa BART & take the 9 towards San Bruno – Starts January 18^th – 4pm

The Art of Storytelling w/ Drew Vai & Terisa Siagatonu

The Art of Storytelling is Youth Speaks’ first-ever workshop for Samoan youth & examines the intersection of self, the City, & the Sacred Center. Based in Sunnydale, but open to youth from SoMA, Mission, Excelsior, Tenderloin, & your block. Come discover your origin and build your own mythology.

TUESDAYS Youth Speaks

1663 Mission St. Ste. 604 San Francisco, CA – a few blocks from either 16th & Mission or Civic Center BART –Starts January 19^th – 4 pm

SLAM PREP w/ Dennis Kim aka Denizen Kane

Before you rock the mic, you’ll have to find the inner light. Join Def Poet and Youth Speaks Artist in Residence Dennis Kim to find how you move the crowd by stilling the self. The journey to the Slam begins with a single breath.

THURSDAYS Filipino Community Center

4681 Mission St. SF, CA – get off at Balboa BART, take the 14 or 49 towards Daly City – Starts January 21^st – 4 pm

Sound Science III w/ Josh Landicho aka Bwan & Mandeep Sethi

In our universe, hip hop is poetry, poetry is activism, and BIG, Pac, & Nas are part of a continuum that includes Al Robles, Jose Garcia Villa, and the Gabriela Network. Come & add your voice to the canon, contribute to the continuum. If you don’t know, now you know…

This year, in 6 different preliminary slam events throughout the bay area, poets will share their truths in an effort to make the finals stage.

Prelims begin on Fri., March 12. Secure your spot today! (Every Poet Gets A Free T-Shirt!)

REGISTER NOW for a chance to:

• Take a FREE TRIP TO LOS ANGELES in July 2010!
• Represent the Bay Area at the 14th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival!
• Be among the few who can call themselves Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Champions!

*You must be between the ages of 13-19 to register. Participants must not turn 20 prior to April 2, 2010.

We’re excited to tell you about a great opportunity for you to save money and give back to Youth Speaks at the same time!

Just go to LivingSocial Deals at http://deals.livingsocial.com/cities/San-Francisco where you can find great deals on local products and services in the Bay Area.

From Dec. 3 – Dec. 20, LivingSocial Deals will be running their “Twelve Days of Gifting” campaign, which will feature 12 different deals on great gift ideas for the holidays.

During the campaign, LivingSocial will be donating part of the proceeds to local nonprofits, and Youth Speaks is one of the featured charities!

So, if you want to save money, and help give back a little too, go to http://deals.livingsocial.com!

From there, you can sign-up to receive e-mail alerts for all twelve deals so you can be sure you don’t miss out!

Bringing The Noise

for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

radical love (and other) letters

This year, keep the tradition alive by celebrating Dr. King’s birthday with the Bay Area’s leading youth spoken word artists and performers as they remember Dr. King and the other unsung heroes in the movement.

Special Guests for the 13th Annual Bringing the Noise for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani from Glide, the home to spirit, social justice and poetry for thousands of San Francisco, will be joining us!

Janice Mirikitani is San Francisco’s second Poet Laureate, appointed in 2000. She and Cecil Williams are often referenced as San Francisco’s leading activist couple.

We thank Glide, for being a locus for social transformation, and feeds thousands literally and spiritually.

Monday January 18, 2010

Herbst Theater, San Francisco @ 7pm

Tickets

$16 General Admission
$6 Youth Under 24, Elders 65+

Click here to view the embedded video.

See a Recap from Last Year’s Bringing the Noise, click here.

READ THE PRESS RELEASE, click here.

Advanced Tickets, click here. Call 415.392.4400

Herbst Theater is located inside the War Memorial Veterans Building

401 Van Ness Ave