Summer Academic Enrichment Eligible Programs

Goals

Our mission: To inspire youth everywhere to embrace the current spoken word movement and bestow the knowledge and skills needed for literary excellence and commercial success.

The institute's Learning Objectives are:

1. Students will learn the rich history of the spoken word movement and the 25 year history of Poetry Slam by dissecting literary texts, analyzing performances, discussing conventions, inferring the societal implications of certain literary works, and drawing connections to previous literary movements such as Romanticism and the Beat era. 2. Students will learn poetic conventions, practices, and skills that will prepare them to be critical readers, proficient writers, adept editors, and dynamic performers. 3. Students will learn by watching live performances and will be given expert coaching and mentoring from the most accomplished Spoken Word Artists in the last decade in the areas of reading, writing, revising, performance, networking, and artistic entrepreneurship. 4. Students will learn how to facilitate their own poetry open mics and Slams, compete in a regional and national level, book their own tour, submit manuscripts for publication, create their own product such as chapbooks and CD's, market themselves as artists, and how to utilize the network of the expansive and successful spoken word community. 5. Students will leave camp with a completed set list of original poetry, sellable merchandise (such as a chapbook or CD), a strategy for performing on the national spoken word circuit, and will have long-term mentors to help them in their path as blossoming artists and entrepreneurs.

Activities

7:30  8:30: Breakfast time 8:30  9:00: Warm ups 9:00  10:30: Morning lecture and workshop (Tentatively, I will run most of these). The topic will vary from the history of slam, to its conventions, artists, impact on society, etc. 10:30  12:30: Team time. Each teaching artist will get a lab of 5 students, which will also function as a slam team with their coach for the night events. The morning period should focus ongenerative activities such as written prompts, guided free writing, and slam strategy. 12:30  1:30: Lunch time 1:30  2:00: Poetry games. These will be activities and games that promote using poetic devices, the practice of writing conventions, and will help with performance, etc. 2:00  3:30: Afternoon lecture and workshop (Tentatively, the workshop leader for these sessions will rotate between the staff to maximize our expertise). Again the topics will vary, but in addition to writing and history these workshops will cover performance, facilitating a slam, making product, booking shows, etc. 3:30  5:00: Elective lecture and workshop. Comedy? Haiku? Group pieces? Fixed forms? Students are free to choose the workshops they want as they rotate through the days. How this looks will depend on the size of enrollment of course. These can be changed to more inclusive lectures, etc. 5:00  7:00: Team time. While the morning team time focuses on writing and generating ideas, the evening sessions will focus more on peer editing, revising, performance, etc. 7:00  8:00: Dinner time 8:00  8:30: Performance hour (model performances from the staff with a Q & A at the end) 8:30  10:00: The Slam. This is meant to be relaxing, fun, and educational. What better way to unwind and bond with your team than by participating in a Haiku Deathmatch, a Decathalon Slam, a Nerd Slam, a Group piece showcase, etc. 10:00  11:00 Free time 11:00 Lights out

Program Dates

June 22-June 28, 2014

Can students reside on campus? Yes

Can students commute to campus? No

Can students take online classes?