WEEKLYPRESS.COM ·
UCREVIEW.COM · AUGUST 10 · 2011
Philadelphia Youth Poetry Slam Team Wins 2011 Brave New Voices Inter- national Youth Poetry Championship
By Haywood Brewster Staff Reporter
T
he Philly Youth Poetry Movement’s (PYPM) slam team competed
against 50 youth poetry teams from across the coun- try and beyond in the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival to win the championship. Brave New Voices is the largest spoken word event in the world and was featured on HBO in 2010 and 2008. This year the festival took place in San Francisco, California from July 20-23. On July 23, the Brave New Voices Grand Slam Finals took place in front of a sold- out crowd of 3,000 people in the San Francisco Opera House. The Philly Youth Po- etry Movement joined teams from Denver, Detroit and New York City to compete in finals for the title. PYPM, who trailed throughout the final slam, pulled out the victory by 0.3 points. The Philly Youth Poetry Movement is a 501(c)(3) non- profit organization commit- ted to helping local youth ages 13-19 discover the pow- er of their voices through spoken word and literary ex- pression. The 2011 Philadel-
phia Youth Slam Team mem- bers include: Sinnea Douglas, Jamar Hall, Chamira Nelson, Kai Davis, and Safiya Wash- ington who earned their spot on the team by compet- ing in lo- cal poet- ry slams h o s t e d by PYPM through- out the year. The team was coached by Perry “Vision” D i Vi r - gilio and Kavindu A d e , w h o was a member of last year’s youth slam team. The trip was made possible through generous donations from the City of Philadel- phia by Mayor Michael Nut- ter who contributed $5,000, The Lomax Foundation who matched the City’s contribu- tion, Southwest Airlines who provided air travel, individ- ual donors, and fundraising by the youth poets. These
The trip was made pos- sible through gener- ous donations from the City of Philadelphia by Mayor Michael Nutter who contributed $5,000, The Lomax Foundation who matched the City’s contribution, Southwest Airlines who provided air travel, individual do- nors, and fundraising by the youth poets.
collective efforts allowed PYPM to take the Youth Slam Team, plus seven additional Philadelphia youth poets who demonstrated commit- ment to the orga- nization and their commu- nity. Yes- t e rda y, Ma y o r Nu t t e r c a l l e d to con- gratulate T e a m P h i l l y on their champi- o n s h i p win, say- ing that they are an “in- spiration to our
entire city.” More than the poetry com- petitions, Brave New Voices created an opportunity for Philadelphia youth to meet other youth poets and lead- ers from around the world, including Guam, Toronto, Leeds, and teams from the Bay Area, Chicago to Greens- boro, North Carolina. Youth participated in workshops,
lectures, conferences, im- promptu ciphers, and poetry open mics that were open to any youth who wanted to share a poem throughout the festival. In 2007, the Philadelphia Youth Slam Team won first place at Brave New Voices, beating over 50 cities and more than 600 poets from around the country and Europe. In 2008, the Philly Youth Slam Team was fea- tured as HBO covered the festival in “Russell Simmons Presents: Brave New Voices.” This year, PYPM earned the championship, finishing #1 out of 50 teams. PYPM re- turns to Philadelphia from Brave New Voices today. For more information on PYPM, please go to
www.pypm215. org. Youth poets also docu- mented their experiences at Brave New Voices by posting their own blogs and photos here:
www.pypm215.tumblr. com.
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