Johnny MacRae
Artistic Director
Photo Credit: Derek Ford
Johnny MacRae is a mouthy poet who has toured exhaustively across Canada. Whether solo, or as a member of collaborative acts 2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac, The Dambassadors and Travelin’ Word Circus, he has given over 200 performances at slams and readings, as well as festivals of poetry, music, and theatre, across Canada. In that same time, he has led over 300 workshops for youth and adults. When not writing, performing, or teaching, he can be found engaged in community organizing. He founded UBC Poetry Slam and Victoria’s Raising Voices outreach program, Raising Voices; co-directed the 2014 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Victoria; directed Raising Voices and Vancouver’s WordPlay Poets from 2013 to 2018; created Spoken Word Canada’s series list for touring artists; acted as Verses Festival’s Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Tournament Director in 2016 and 2018; and has co-directed the Hullabaloo portion of Verses Festival of Words since 2015. In 2013, he was named Poet of Honour for the Victoria Spoken Word Festival, and received the Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award in 2017.
Colleen Brown
Interim Arts Administrator
Colleen is a visual artist. She occasionally teaches at Emily Carr University. She became interested the spoken word while she was a student at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts. She has worked as the Program Coordinator of Artspeak, an artist-run centre in Vancouver. She thinks arts administration is an important part of art making.
Hal Lackie
Program Coordinator, VanSlam
photo credit: Nang Ḵ’uulas
Mariah Lynne Dear
Youth Slam Coordinator
Mariah Lynne Dear is a majestic woman who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is a poet, a nonfiction writer, a feminist, a writing workshop facilitator, and the coordinator of the Vancouver Youth Poetry Slam. Since her spoken word poetry debut at age seventeen, she has travelledacross Canada competing both individually and as a team representing the city of Vancouver. You can find out what Mariah is currently working on at http://mariahlynnedear.com!
Tessa Bourguignon
Wordplay Coordinator
Tessa is a bilingual writer, designer, and educator. She comes to WordPlay with over a decade of involvement in the poetry community, including a french performance in the Vancouver Writers’ Festival, and just as many years of facilitation experience. Carrying a strong drive to provide youth with platforms to express themselves, her coordination approach is informed by a theatre background, and entrepreneurial experience starting a small local business geared towards accessibility and social justice through design.
RC Weslowski
Hullabaloo Coordinator
RC Weslowski is a 2017 VPL Book Camp Keynote Speaker, winner of the 2016 Sheri D Wilson Golden Beret Award and the 2012 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Champion. RC is a 2 time World Cup of Poetry Slam Finalist (2007 and 2013) and 7 time member of the Vancouver Poetry Slam. RC has led spoken word and performance workshops at festivals across North America and for the Banff Centre’s Spoken Word Program.
RC is the co-founder and co-director of Hullabaloo: the BC Youth Spoken Word Festival. He is also the co-creator of Surrealist Audio Collage Podcast “Oh No Not Another Podcast”