August 29th, 2011
The first slam event the crew went to on the field trip was the louderARTS slam.
The louderARTS Project is an arts organization committed to developing constructive and challenging spaces for artists to create, critique, present, and teach poetry.
The louderARTS Project seeks to:
• create a literary and artistic environment for both its artists and audience by expanding perspective, voice and critical vocabulary.
• sponsor literary arts programming in underserved communities.
• encourage experimentation and growth by its artists by creating opportunities to craft and present collaborative, cross-genre work incorporating mixed media, music, dance, and theatrical elements.
• foster a deeper understanding, within its artists and audience, of the oral and literary traditions which underlie today's poetry.
• work in partnership with other organizations to maximize the strengths and expertise of each.
LouderARTS slams are held every Monday at Bar 13 (35 East / 13th Street at University Place).
General Slam Rules of louderARTS:
Sign-Ups - The list goes out at 7pm on the dot. Sign-ups are first come first serve. (The only exception will be the final two slams of the open qualifying season where priority will be given to slammers who already have already participated in one or more qualifying slams.)
The Poems - Each poem must be of the poet's own construction. Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score. Time starts at first contact with the audience. The poet may not use props, costumes or musical instruments. Of the scores the poet received from the five judges, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score of 0-30. Poems used in the third round may not be repeated until semi-finals.
Qualifying for Semi-finals - Points are earned by placing first (3 points), second (2 poitns) or third (1 point) in a qualifying slam. Those with the most points at the end of the qualifying season will compete in one of three nights of semi-final competitions. There are usually 5 rounds. The top scoring poets from each of these nights will go on to compete in the finals. You must compete in a minimum of three slams and earn at least one point to qualify for the semi-finals. If there are fewer than 15 poets with 3 slams and at least one point, poets with two slams and the highest number of points will advance.
Finals - The format for finals is 3 rounds with no poems repeated from semi-finals. The poets with the top four scores will comprise the team for louderARTS. It is at the Slam Master's discression that a 5th "alternate" will be included in the team.
Host / slam master - James Merenda:
Feature performance - Seth Walker - Houston’s premiere national poet and Grand Slam Champion of 2007:
Seth Walker is Houston’s premiere national poet and Grand Slam Champion of 2007. In 2007, Seth also took 2nd at the Texas Blue Bonnet State Competition. That November, he left Houston to follow his art and travel across the country to find it… he has not yet stopped.
Since then Seth has performed at nearly every major venue in the country including Da Poetry Lounge (Hollywood, CA), The Green Mill (Chicago, IL), & The Nuyorican (New York, NY). Along the way he won several noteworthy titles such as: Slam Champion of the Utah State Arts Fair Poetry Slam (2009), North Beast Indie Slam Champion (North-Eastern Regional 2010), as well as as slamming, most recently, with the 2010 Austin Poetry Slam Team.
With Solomon Schneider (a multi-instrumentalists eerie-folk musician) and other rotating national artists, this notorious “road dog” poet travels 10 to 11 months out of the year, dedicating his art to whomever he meets.
Poets of the night:
After the event we talked to the winner - Lynne Procope and the host - James Merenda, and also to Seth Walker and his fellow musician Solomon Schneider.
VIDEO interviews coming soon!
Photos by BlyWorx
The first slam event the crew went to on the field trip was the louderARTS slam.
The louderARTS Project is an arts organization committed to developing constructive and challenging spaces for artists to create, critique, present, and teach poetry.
The louderARTS Project seeks to:
• create a literary and artistic environment for both its artists and audience by expanding perspective, voice and critical vocabulary.
• sponsor literary arts programming in underserved communities.
• encourage experimentation and growth by its artists by creating opportunities to craft and present collaborative, cross-genre work incorporating mixed media, music, dance, and theatrical elements.
• foster a deeper understanding, within its artists and audience, of the oral and literary traditions which underlie today's poetry.
• work in partnership with other organizations to maximize the strengths and expertise of each.
LouderARTS slams are held every Monday at Bar 13 (35 East / 13th Street at University Place).
General Slam Rules of louderARTS:
Sign-Ups - The list goes out at 7pm on the dot. Sign-ups are first come first serve. (The only exception will be the final two slams of the open qualifying season where priority will be given to slammers who already have already participated in one or more qualifying slams.)
The Poems - Each poem must be of the poet's own construction. Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score. Time starts at first contact with the audience. The poet may not use props, costumes or musical instruments. Of the scores the poet received from the five judges, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score of 0-30. Poems used in the third round may not be repeated until semi-finals.
Qualifying for Semi-finals - Points are earned by placing first (3 points), second (2 poitns) or third (1 point) in a qualifying slam. Those with the most points at the end of the qualifying season will compete in one of three nights of semi-final competitions. There are usually 5 rounds. The top scoring poets from each of these nights will go on to compete in the finals. You must compete in a minimum of three slams and earn at least one point to qualify for the semi-finals. If there are fewer than 15 poets with 3 slams and at least one point, poets with two slams and the highest number of points will advance.
Finals - The format for finals is 3 rounds with no poems repeated from semi-finals. The poets with the top four scores will comprise the team for louderARTS. It is at the Slam Master's discression that a 5th "alternate" will be included in the team.
Since then Seth has performed at nearly every major venue in the country including Da Poetry Lounge (Hollywood, CA), The Green Mill (Chicago, IL), & The Nuyorican (New York, NY). Along the way he won several noteworthy titles such as: Slam Champion of the Utah State Arts Fair Poetry Slam (2009), North Beast Indie Slam Champion (North-Eastern Regional 2010), as well as as slamming, most recently, with the 2010 Austin Poetry Slam Team.
With Solomon Schneider (a multi-instrumentalists eerie-folk musician) and other rotating national artists, this notorious “road dog” poet travels 10 to 11 months out of the year, dedicating his art to whomever he meets.
Poets of the night:
And the winner was: Lynne Procope
Lynne Procope is a poet and teaching artist from Trinidad and Tobago. She is a founder of the New York based non-profit, the louderARTS Project Inc. and a director of its Workshops and Outreach Program as well as curator of the experimental performance workshop, synonymUS. She was a member of the New York's 1998 National Poetry Slam Championship winning team. She is co-author of the collection, Burning Down the House (Soft Skull Press, 2000) and her work appears in the Summer/Fall 2000 Drums Voices Review, Poetry Slam Anthology (Manic D Press, 1999) and How to Read an Oral Poem (University of Illinois Press, 2002).
After the event we talked to the winner - Lynne Procope and the host - James Merenda, and also to Seth Walker and his fellow musician Solomon Schneider.
VIDEO interviews coming soon!
Photos by BlyWorx
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