Word Play

The first-ever Slam Camp for Youth will be held July 4 – 8, 2011 at Little Mountain Gallery in Vancouver. Little Mountain is a gallery that is also a black box theatre with a small stage and friendly atmosphere. The perfect space to exercise your poetic muscles, and stretch your creativity. We’ll also be spending plenty of time in nearby parks, writing and rehearsing and performing in the sun!

There are 15 spots available for poets from the ages of 14 – 19 years of age. To apply to be one of this year’s group, you simply need to send the applicant’s contact info, along with an example of their writing or performance to wordplaypoets@gmail.com. If selected, you’ll then pay the registration fee through our secure online system. The 15 selected youth poets will work with some of the very best spoken word artists in Vancouver, many of whom are on the WordPlay roster of workshop facilitators (along with a few slam poets visiting from the U.S.). If you’d like to apply for the two available bursaries for youth in financial need, simple indicate that in your application email.

The deadline to apply for Slam Camp is Wednesday, June 15th. That’s tomorrow! Wowzers! Remember all you need to do to apply is send an email with contact info and an example poem or performance video (ie. YouTube link) to show that the applicant has some prior experience with either writing or performance. If you have any questions, send them to Chris Gilpin, Program Coordinator, at wordplaypoets@gmail.com , the same email you can send your application to.

The registration deadline for Hullabaloo, the BC Secondary School Poetry Slam tournament, has been extended one more month to February 28th, 2010. 10 spots are filled, only 2 remain. The two remaining spots in the tournament will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Here’s who has registered so far:

1. Cariboo Hill Secondary (Burnaby)
2. Windsor Secondary (North Vancouver)
3. R.A. McMath Secondary (Richmond)
4. Howe Sound Secondary (Squamish)
5. Terry Fox Secondary (Coquitlam)
6. Tamanawis Secondary (Surrey)
7. Delta South Secondary (Delta & Tsawwassen)
8. Shawnigan Lake School (Shawnigan Lake)
9. Brittania Secondary (Vancouver)
10. Wild Card team

You can register your school by completing this two step process:

1.) Send an email to wordplaypoets@gmail.com with the name of your school, the name of the teacher who is coaching the team, and their contact info.

2.) Send a cheque for $80 made out to “Vancouver Poetry House” to: WordPlay, c/o Chris Gilpin, 254 West 18th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5Y 2A7. You are not registered until your cheque has been received (once we have it, we’ll send you a confirmation email).

Hullabaloo will be held in the final two weeks of April 2011. The top 4 school teams will advance to the finals bout, which will be held in conjunction with the IGNITE! festival on The Cultch’s mainstage.

More details on the main site: http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/word-play/hullabaloo

Already eight schools have registered for Hullabaloo, the first-ever BC Secondary School Poetry Slam tournament. They are:

1. Cariboo Hill Secondary (Burnaby)
2. Windsor Secondary (North Vancouver)
3. R.A. McMath Secondary (Richmond)
4. Howe Sound Secondary (Squamish)
5. Terry Fox Secondary (Coquitlam)
6. Tamanawis Secondary (Surrey)
7. Delta South Secondary (Delta & Tsawwassen)
8. Shawnigan Lake School (Shawnigan Lake)

All of these 8 schools registered before the initial January 31st deadline. Their spot in the tournament is confirmed and reserved. We are dedicated to having a Wild Card team, which brings us up to 9 teams currently. We’ve decided we will take up to 12 in total, so we are extending the registration deadline to February 28th, 2011.

There are three spots left, which will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Basically, the next three schools to register will get in, the rest will have to wait until next year (when we plan to expand the tournament). Registration is simple. You can find out all the details on the website:

http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/word-play/hullabaloo

WordPlay together with the Youth Poetry Slam is launching the first-ever BC Secondary School Poetry Slam tournament, aka HULLABALOO!

If you know a teacher or student who is interested in poetry slam, let them know.  It’s a great opportunity for high school youth to have their voice heard, and get excited about poetry in a festival atmosphere.

Already three schools have strongly expressed interested in participating in the tournament. If more than four schools register, then we will hold preliminary slams to determine the top four teams who will get a chance to perform on the main stage at The Cultch. Preliminary slams (if necessary!) would be held at Café Deux Soleils.

When: late April 2011
Where: The Cultch, main stage
How much: $80 to register a team, spectator prices TBD

http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/word-play/hullabaloo

HULLABALOO is a new VPH project, organized through its WordPlay and Youth Slam programs. It will be part of the Cultch’s IGNITE! festival, co-sponsored by the Vancouver International Poetry Festival.

HULLABALOO will be the culmination of a wider initiative to foster poetry slam clubs in schools. In the coming weeks, a Poetry Slam Club Starter Kit will be available through the VPH website. This kit will have everything you need to: 1.) understand the poetry slam movement, 2.) learn the basics of performance poetry, and 3.) run a proper poetry slam.

HULLABALOO will feature teams of students competing in standard four-round bouts for the title of provincial poetry slam champ.

HULLABALOO will be more fun than driving a clown car filled with your friends.

The lead organizer of HULLABALOO are Chris Gilpin and RC Weslowski, together with the IGNITE! Youth Panel. Send inquiries to:  hello@vancouverpoetryhouse.com

Celebrate Youth Week with a Poetry Slam

Poetry House joins with Burnaby Library, Burnaby Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services and Legacies 2010 to host a Youth Slam and Graffiti Art Night during Youth Week in Burnaby. This event is open to poets ages 13-18 years. A poetry and spoken word workshop a couple of weeks ahead of the event will help poets prepare their work for the slam.

Poetry and Spoken Word Workshop
Thursday, April 17, 7-9pm
Summit Youth Centre
200 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby
Facilitators: Shannon Rayne and RC Weslowski
The workshop is free and open to poets of all styles and experience levels.

Graffiti Art and Youth Slam Event
Thursday, May 1, 5-10pm
Summit Youth Centre – 200 Willingdon Ave Burnaby
Graffiti Painting and Barbeque – 5-8pm
Poetry Slam – 8-10pm
Admission and supper are free.
Cash Prizes
Host: Sasha Langford
Your slam poem must include your expression of the BC spirit – in hip hop, rant, storytelling – all poetic styles, expressions and points-of-view are welcome.

For information, call Raj at Summit Youth Centre 604 268-1369 or email us at vanpohouse@yahoo.ca

Hello! Welcome to our shiny new home. We hope you like it…feel free to sit on the furniture.

The purpose of this entry will be to tell you all of the clever things we’ve been up to.

First, we’re doing all sorts of structural reorganization. The phrase “structural reorganization” sounds really boring, so we won’t go into details. All it means in real words is that our workshop process should run a little smoother, and we will appear on the surface to be slightly more organized.

Second, we’re engaging in super secret meetings with the youth of today to make nefarious plans about conquering the world. The youth of today are awesome, smart, and good-looking. Your future will be well-tended. More details on this soon.

Third, we’re booking workshops. If you are a teacher who wants us to come to your classroom, go here. If you are a student who wants us to come to your classroom, tell your teacher to go here. If you are a garden gnome, go away. No offense.

If you’ve had a workshop with us in the past and you want to share your experience, we are welcoming entries from guest bloggers. E-mail us at wordplaypoets at gmail dot com, and tell us what you thought.

That is all. Until next time. Beware.