Pocket Poems
Currently, artBeat is editing submissions we've received for "Pocket Poems," a pocket-sized literary magazine showcasing the work of D.C. youth under the age of 25. The goal of the magazine is to celebrate youth creativity and self-expression and to create an avenue of literary exchange between young poets; literally, we are binding your work together to form a window into D.C. youth writing. Our audience includes youth, ranging from 7th grade at Friendship Edison Blow Pierce Junior Academy to recent graduates of the Lannan Fellows program at Georgetown University. But the audience will also be educators and administrators at schools/ organizations who create the space for this work. Some themes that have surfaced from the work of young poets are: "neighborhoods,""space in the place," "imitation," and "the war poem." We're also including an interview with awesome activist/ poet ammiel alcalay. But really, it's a youth-focused thang. We're going to print in late July 2008, but there is still time to submit your work. Young poets can submit up to three poems to Montana: montana.artbeat@gmail.com. Please attach a bio including your neighborhood and a detail about you that you'd like to share with other young writers. And contact Montana with any questions via email or phone: 617.448.4337.
Spread the Word 2008
Speard the Word 2008, artBeat's second annual youth poetry symposium, generously funded by the Lannan Literary Programs at Georgetown Univeristy, was held on Tuesday, April 29, 2008, again at the WVSA ARTiculate Gallery: 1100 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036. Youth participants at this year's gathering represented the Latin American Youth Center, Art & Media House (AMH), WVSA ArtsConnection, School for the Arts in Learning (SAIL). St. Stephens & St. Agnes School (SSSAS) in Va, Howard University, Studio School, and Georgetown University and ranged in age from 9-23 years of age.
It was great to hear a good number of young female poets at this year's Spread the Word, including the very brave first time readers Imani and Esther from the SAIL poetry club. In combination with Anna's female-empowering pieces and the exhibition on display in the reading, fabric art curated by White Ribbon Alliance, relating to maternal health care, there was a definite vibe of support for the physical and mental well being of women. Also of note at this year's gathering was that poetry was read in three languages: English, Spanish and Kiswahili. Speacial shout outs to returning participants Cameron from SSSAS and Angel from AMH; we love seeing you grow as writers and people. And hope to see you next year!
Our emcee was local poetry educator and the unofficial mayor of the DC open mic, Chiston "Christylez" Bacon, who set a tone of comfortable and energetic exchange. Christylez also lead a writing exercise for participants to generate new words. Our guest reader, Anna Mwalagho, was born and raised in Kenya, East Africa; Ms. Mwalagho in an internationally recognized artist and one woman blend of African dance, music, acting , and storytelling. She is the lead singer of the afro funk group ChopTeeth and an educator at Maya Angelou Public Charter School.
Art Educator's Retreat
December 2007 we were hired by St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School in VA to facilitate an arts education retreat for arts educators and administrators across the DC-VA-MD Metro ares, including back to school workshops in bookmaking, ceramics, printmaking, Batala drumming and storytelling.
Calabash Festival
How are we practicing freedom? How are we writing it?
artBeat envisions establishing an international arts festival in DC; and, as such, we are ever explorers on the search for models: real people making things happen. Happily, one such example of things not only happening but being done right at the hands of Kwame Dawes, Justine Henzell, and Colin Channer is the Calabash Festival in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. http://www.calabashfestival.org/
In it's eighth year, Calabash is a well-executed, well-attended, and free gathering of a diverse spectrum of writers, including an ample representation of emerging female poets like Aracelis Girmay, Jackie Kay, and Achy Objeas. As well as big hitting Diasporic voices like Derek Walcott and Yusef Komunyakaa. And many other artists and attendees from Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America. Despite the international presence, the gathering, set in an otherwise sleepy fishing village, retained an energy and expression of freedom that characterizes Caribbean writing and struggle.
To place this all in a historical context: this year marked the passing of Aime Cesaire, who speaks to both the ambiguities of Caribbean life and culture and the power of a cultural gathering such as Calabash: "I have a different idea of a universal. It is of a universal rich with all that is particular, rich with all the particulars there are, the deepening of each particular, the coexistence of them all. " Lettre à Maurice Thorez. And to place this in a contemporary struggle: this is also the year that Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding declared that he would not allow homosexuals to form part of his Cabinet. A comment that was addressed in the manner that Objeas described as "talking back to power" by Thomas Glave, the editor of the anthology Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles and the first reader at Calabash 08.
The people Calabash draws share an interest in engaging with the world through their writing. As a festival, it knows it's history. It's political. It's relevant. It's good quality writing. The gathering also includes three open mics., opportunities for young writers to read their work in the presence of a robust creative community.
Also of interest to the artBeat community is the way in which Calabash combined artforms. There was a film showing of Perry Henzell's No Place Like Home, which for the uninitiated is a great introduction to Jamaican music and life, including the complex relationship between American and Jamaican artists. Also prominent, naturally so, was the relationship between Jamaican writing and music. Bob Andy, all dressed in white and brandishing a white hanky, lead what felt like a revival on the cloudy Sunday afternoon with the sea framed by a mosaic stage, declaring, "My revolution started. I'm gonna live my life."
artBeat envisions establishing an international arts festival in DC; and, as such, we are ever explorers on the search for models: real people making things happen. Happily, one such example of things not only happening but being done right at the hands of Kwame Dawes, Justine Henzell, and Colin Channer is the Calabash Festival in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. http://www.calabashfestival
In it's eighth year, Calabash is a well-executed, well-attended, and free gathering of a diverse spectrum of writers, including an ample representation of emerging female poets like Aracelis Girmay, Jackie Kay, and Achy Objeas. As well as big hitting Diasporic voices like Derek Walcott and Yusef Komunyakaa. And many other artists and attendees from Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America. Despite the international presence, the gathering, set in an otherwise sleepy fishing village, retained an energy and expression of freedom that characterizes Caribbean writing and struggle.
To place this all in a historical context: this year marked the passing of Aime Cesaire, who speaks to both the ambiguities of Caribbean life and culture and the power of a cultural gathering such as Calabash: "I have a different idea of a universal. It is of a universal rich with all that is particular, rich with all the particulars there are, the deepening of each particular, the coexistence of them all. " Lettre à Maurice Thorez. And to place this in a contemporary struggle: this is also the year that Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding declared that he would not allow homosexuals to form part of his Cabinet. A comment that was addressed in the manner that Objeas described as "talking back to power" by Thomas Glave, the editor of the anthology Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles and the first reader at Calabash 08.
The people Calabash draws share an interest in engaging with the world through their writing. As a festival, it knows it's history. It's political. It's relevant. It's good quality writing. The gathering also includes three open mics., opportunities for young writers to read their work in the presence of a robust creative community.
Also of interest to the artBeat community is the way in which Calabash combined artforms. There was a film showing of Perry Henzell's No Place Like Home, which for the uninitiated is a great introduction to Jamaican music and life, including the complex relationship between American and Jamaican artists. Also prominent, naturally so, was the relationship between Jamaican writing and music. Bob Andy, all dressed in white and brandishing a white hanky, lead what felt like a revival on the cloudy Sunday afternoon with the sea framed by a mosaic stage, declaring, "My revolution started. I'm gonna live my life."
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