Road to Brave New Voices

The Road to Brave New Voices is a performance group of local youth poets from the Maryland-based Creative Writing Alliance. The performers, all under the age of 21, have represented or will represent the area at Brave New Voices, The National Youth Slam Poetry Competition.Last year, Creative Writing Alliance brought Brave New Voices to the Washington, DC area. The story of the 500 youth poets and mentors that attended in 2008 evolved into an HBO series, Russell Simmons presents: Brave New Voices. In 2009, Creative Writing Alliance will take the Maryland Youth Slam to Brave New Voices Chicago, to compete for the national title.

The Road to Brave New Voices is a performance group of local youth poets from the Maryland-based Creative Writing Alliance. The performers, all under the age of 21, have represented or will represent the area at Brave New Voices, The National Youth Slam Poetry Competition.

Last year, Creative Writing Alliance brought Brave New Voices to the Washington, DC area. The story of the 500 youth poets and mentors that attended in 2008 evolved into an HBO series, Russell Simmons presents: Brave New Voices. In 2009, Creative Writing Alliance will take the Maryland Youth Slam to Brave New Voices Chicago, to compete for the national title.

The Maryland Youth Slam Team is representing the Washington area for the fourth time at Brave New Voices, the National Youth Slam. The area’s most talented youth poets compete each year for a chance to engage in an advanced poetry workshop with Creative Writing Alliance and to advance to Brave New Voices.

Founded by Tahira Brooks Joseph, Creative Writing Alliance's mission is to serve area youth through programs and to shape tomorrow's civic leaders. CWA youth poets work to meet social needs in Prince George's County and they also raise awareness about the emerging art of performance poetry.

Youth Speaks Inc., the nation’s leading spoken word organization, is proud to present the 12th annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. Convening the top young poets and spoken word artists, aged 13-19, from across the United States and beyond, Brave New Voices is a one-of-a-kind festival that truly engages everyone involved; from the participants, to the adult mentors and the audience members. Each year, Brave New Voices is held in a different city, highlighting the changing demographics of the country and a new poetic and politic for the 21st Century. For the second time, the six-day festival will be held in Chicago.

Brave New Voices 2009 features over 500 Teen Poetry Slam Champions from 45 parts of the country and 5 additional cities from across the globe, representing over 50,000 young poets in their local communities. These young writers are a diverse, creative, intelligent group of trendsetting community and cultural leaders. They come to Brave New Voices each year not only to compete, but to attend world-class workshops led by renowned poets and writers, participate in youth development programs, and highlight the voices of a new generation of leadership.

Following the April airing of the HBO special Brave New Voices - which filmed youth from across the country as they prepared for, and participated in, Brave New Voices 2008 in Washington DC – the festival in Chicago will be the largest, most high-visible Brave New Voices yet.

The 5-day festival features 25 events across Chicago, from July 14-19, in community-based theaters, major performance venues, public spaces and college campuses. Brave New Voices 2008 Washington DC took place in venues that included the Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institute, and The Lincoln Theater, the Capitol Building, George Washington University, and Lafayette Park.

About Youth Speaks
Founded in 1996, Youth Speaks is the leading nonprofit presenter of Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs in the country. Presenters of local and national youth poetry slams, festivals, reading series, and more, Youth Speaks also offers a comprehensive slate of literary arts education programs during the school day and after school, and provides numerous publication and youth development programs. All told, Youth Speaks works with 45,000 teens per year in the Bay Area alone, and has created partner programs in 47 cities across the United States. Youth Speaks Inc. is a multi-faceted organization that understands and believes that the power, insight, creativity, and passion of young people can change the world.

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6/14/09: Road to Brave New Voices

Listen to some of the nation’s top young poets and spoken word artists as they embark on their journey to the 12th annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in Chicago.

Road to Brave New Voices

Listen to some of the nation’s top young poets and spoken word artists as they embark on their journey to the 12th annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in Chicago.

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