“Literacy is a need, not a want”
Earlier this year, the youth in Deep’s SLAM team performed at Brave New Voices, the biggest youth poetry festival of its kind, where young people are heard, honored and connected through creativity and care. Founded in 1996 in San Francisco, Brave New Voices is the leading opportunity for Spoken Word performance, education, and youth development programs. Trailblazers of local and national youth poetry slams, festivals, and more, the three day festival encourages youth to express themselves using their own idioms. By connecting poetry, spoken word, youth development, and civic engagement, the opportunity aims to deconstruct current dominant narratives by creating a more inclusive and active culture, and young people have the tools to take control of their lives through language. Having knowledge, practice, and confidence in the written and spoken language is essential to the self-empowerment of an individual. Youth Speaks fills a need for creative approaches to literary arts education and literacy development. It is crucial to provide spaces where youth can undergo a process of personal growth and transformation in a program that enriches their educational, professional, artistic, and leadership skills.
“Brave New Voices is important because young people at their core, need a break from regular life – they need to be in community with other young people who think like them.” says Jezmin Daniels, teaching artist with Block by Block and SLAM. “We have young people who are dying to break out – and Brave New Voices offers youth the chance to be free, to be themselves, and express themselves. It is a very large brave and safe space where teams of youth come together to perform, and we are talking about youth from all across America: teams from Califormnia, Chicago, New York, Houston, and of course, Savannah!”
Deep’s SLAM team has been invited to participate in Brave New Voices for years now, and this year was no exception.
“This year was cool” continues Jezmin. “Brave New Voices had professional photoshoots for all the teams. Having our young people in front of the camera and strutting their stuff, it felt like a big flex for them. They are treated like stars! It gives them confidence and I can see it in our young people in their pen game, their stage presence, even the way they show up as leaders in our Block by Block and SLAM space.”
To see the full album of photos, click HERE.