The 10th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival is here! 400 poets from 40 parts of the country will come to San Jose July 17-21 to take part in the world's greatest youth poetry festival.

TUESDAY JULY 17 – SATURDAY JULY 21, 2007
Various Downtown San Jose Locations
ALL EVENTS ARE ALL AGES & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Ticketed Events:

Friday July 20th
“Grand Slam Finals”
Marc Bamuthi Joseph special guest emcee
w/ a guest appearance by Saul Williams
The California Theater
345 South First Street
San Jose, CA
Doors 6pm, Show 7pm $15 General Admission / $5 for Youth under 20
http://www.brownpapertickets.com

Saturday, July 21st:
Youth Speaks Presents
“Bring the Noise”
a Benefit Concert in support of Brave New Voices
with Host and Special Guest: Lyrics Born

And live performances by Cody ChesnuTT, Martin Luther, Zion I
Plus HBO Def Poets:
Beau Sia, Kelly Tsai, Amir Sulaiman,
Marc Bamuthi Joseph and more… with DJ Funklor
San Jose Civic Auditorium
135 West San Carlos Street
Door 7pm, Show 8pm, $25 in advance, $30 @ door
http://www.brownpapertickets.com


Brave New Voices 2007 features over 450 teen poetry slam champions
from 45 parts of the country and will reach an audience of over 10,000
throughout the week. These young writers are a diverse, creative,
intelligent group of trendsetters, community and cultural leaders. They
come to Brave New Voices each year not only to compete, but to attend
world-class workshops led by renowned poets and writers, build
community and to hone their craft.

The 5-day festival features 23 events in 11 venues; spawning from a
collection of San Jose’s cafes, galleries, museums and theaters. Youth
Speaks is also curating a special benefit concert featuring world-class
talent on Saturday, July 21st at San Jose’s Civic Center Auditorium,
and is partnering with Robert Redford’s Sundance Preserve and the
Sundance Channel to host a special spoken word event taking on Global
Warming from the perspective of American teens. The proceeds from these
events will match a multi-year grant from the Ford Foundation to
underwrite the housing and accommodation costs for all 450 poets and
their adult mentors..

Brave New Voices 2007 participants come from:
San Francisco, Kansas City, Ann Arbor, New York City, San Jose,
Madison/Milwaukee, Seattle, Chicago, Ypsilanti, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami,
Los Angeles, Compton, Connecticut, Honolulu, Austin, Leeds, Maryland, Albuquerque,
Savannah, Denver, Detroit, Washington D.C.,Taos, St. Louis, Fontana,
Providence, Chapel Hill, New Orleans, Chico, Minneapolis/St. Paul,
Cleveland, Newark, Philadelphia ,Charlotte, Worcester, Rochester, Santa
Fe & more.

Special to this year is a partnership with Blue Marlin (a San Francisco
clothing company) who will be donating jackets to all of the
participants in the style of the USA Olympic track jackets worn by
Tommy Smith and John Carlos during the 1968 Olympics. As a tribute to
these young poets who use a public stage to speak about important and
topical events, these jackets will directly reflect the lineage and
continuum of poetry, art, and social justice.

“BRAVE NEW VOICES 2007” SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Saturday July 14th:
“2007 BNV Bay Area Slam Team vs. Veteran Slam Champions”
Guerilla Café
1620 Shattuck Avenue, near Cedar
Berkeley, CA
4:30pm-7:30pm
FREE

Veterans and HBO Def Poets:
Eli Marienthal
Dahlak Brathwaite
Rafael Casal
Meilani Clay
Chinaka Hodge
George Watsky

***VERSUS***

2007 Bay Area Slam Team:
Rodrael Guadalupe
Austin Ashford
Simone Crew
Terry Taplin
Tiara "Poet" Phalon
Isaac Miller

As the Bay Area team prepares to head to San Jose for BNV, we’ve put together one more bay side event. Come watch as the newest slam champions take on the generation that raised them. Past slam champions will go head to head with the current team in a battle royale at the East Bay’s flyest eatery. Spend your Saturday afternoon rooting for your favorite generation of Youth Speaks poets at this all ages event.

Tuesday July 17th :
“Opening Ceremonies”
San Jose Museum of Art, Courtyard
110 South Market Street San Jose, CA
Event 5pm-7pm

After their arrival in San Jose, youth poetry teams gather for a
kick-off the San Jose Art Museum. This official meet-and-greet event
will be followed by the Opening Ceremonies later that evening in the
same location. Youth will have a chance to hear presentations from city
officials and conference organizers, network with one another and share
something from their city. A team photo op will complete the San Jose
welcome and the day’s festivities!

Wednesday, July 18th :
“Arts-in-Education Writing Workshops”
San Jose State University Student Union
1 Washington Square
San Jose, CA
Workshops 10:00-5:00pm // FREE & Open to All Youth

Arts-in-Education Writing Workshops are a full day of writing workshops
led by some of the nation’s top poets and spoken word artists. Each
participant will be able to participate in at least 3 different
workshops. These workshops feature world class spoken word artists,
poets, writers, performers, and community activists from across the
country.

“Bridging The Beat” Block Party
Michelle Lee & Mike McGee special guest hosts
Femi, Butterscotch live performances
South First Street (W. Reed & W. Williams)
San Jose, CA
Event 7:00pm-10:00pm // FREE

“Bridging The Beat” Block Party with spoken word artists & musicians –
A Free block party on First Street, hosted in partnership with MACLA,
includes an indoor cipher and an outdoor stage.

Thursday, July 19th :
“Quarter Final Rounds 1&2 of International Youth Poetry Slam”
Event 10:00am-2:00pm // FREE
All Teams in Participation

“Quarter Final Rounds 3&4 of International Youth Poetry Slam”
Event 3:00pm-6:00pm // FREE
All Teams in Participation

Venues:
MACLA
510 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113

San Jose Stage Company
490 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113

Works/ San Jose
451 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113

Camera 3 Cinema
288 South Second Street
San Jose, CA 95106

All day Thursday, the Quarter Finals of the Poetry Slam will be
underway. Each team will perform in 2 separate bouts in that day. A
bout pairs 4 teams up against each other to perform individual and
group poems in the Poetry Slam format.

Friday, July 20th:
“Semi-Final Rounds of International Youth Poetry Slam”
Special Guest Emcees: Beau Sia & Suheir Hammad
San Jose Rep.
101 Paseo de San Antonio
San Jose, CA
Event 11:00am-2:00pm // FREE

4-5 Teams in Participation // 2 Bouts Each

“Poetry in Pedagogy: A Teacher’s Institute”
The San Jose Museum of Art
110 S. Market St.
San Jose, CA
Event 3:00pm-6:00pm // FREE

Workshops facilitated by some of the leading poet educators in the
country, and supported by the work of teacher educators Dr. Jamal
Cooks, SFSU, and LaShawn Route-Chatmon, Executive Director of the Bay
Area Coalition for Equitable Schools.

“Grand Slam Finals”
Marc Bamuthi Joseph special guest emcee
Saul Williams live performance
The California Theater
345 South First Street
San Jose, CA
Doors 6pm, Show 7pm $15 General Admission / $5 for Youth under 20
http://www.brownpapertickets.com

Saturday, July 21st:
“Brave New Voices on Global Warming”
Featured Youth Poets
Center For Employment Training (CET)
701 Vine St
San Jose, CA
1pm, FREE

Sundance Preserve & Youth Speaks proudly present “Brave New Voices on
Global Warming”. Ten pre-selected youth poets compete for a trip to the
Sundance Summit in Utah where they will perform at the Mayor’s
Gathering on Climate Protection conference in September, 2007. The
summit presents a rare moment for the youth to speak directly to
political leaders and lawmakers.

Saturday , July 21st
Youth Speaks Presents
“Bring the Noise”
a Benefit Concert in support of Brave New Voices

with Host and Special Guest: Lyrics Born

And live performances by Cody ChesnuTT, Martin Luther, Zion I

And HBO Def Poets:
Beau Sia, Kelly Tsai, Amir Sulaiman, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and more…

Plus DJ Funklor
San Jose Civic Auditorium
135 West San Carlos Street
Door 7pm, Show 8pm, $25 in advance, $30 at the door
http://www.brownpapertickets.com

Brave New Voices 2007 is made possible through the contributions of the
Ford Foundation, the Walter and Elise Hass Fund, Blue Marlin, The
Sundance Preserve, ICLEI, the W.A. Gerbode Foundation, The San
Francisco Foundation, The Doris Duke Foundation’s MPO Initiative, The
Tides Foundation, BAVC, The James Irvine Foundation, Youth Speaks and
Individual contributions of generous poetry fans.

NEWS:

1. Youth Speaks Alumni Present: The Bake Sale 2.0

Long-time heavy hitters from the Youth Speaks family have been in the studio and on the stage. If you like their poetry, you're gonna love what they do when they flex their words over beats. Join Youth Speaks Alumni and Spokes members as they perform tunes from their latest efforts. Join George Watsky, Hazel Kleingrove, Geoff Harris, Miles Douglas, Rafael Casal, Nico Cary, Chinaka Hodge, Daveed Diggs, Dahlak Brathwaite, and more.

The Bake Sale features:

Invisible Inc.
40Love
Dahlak and the Hi-Lifes
The Get Back Crew

La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
$7/$5 for Students