Brave New Voices Festival

Youth Speaks Inc., the nation’s leading spoken word organization, is proud to present the 12th annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. Convening the top young poets and spoken word artists, aged 13-19, from across the United States and beyond, Brave New Voices is a one-of-a-kind festival that truly engages everyone involved; from the participants, to the adult mentors and the audience members. Each year, Brave New Voices is held in a different city, highlighting the changing demographics of the country and a new poetic and politic for the 21st Century. For the second time, the six-day festival will be held in Chicago.

Brave New Voices 2009 features over 500 Teen Poetry Slam Champions from 45 parts of the country and 5 additional cities from across the globe, representing over 50,000 young poets in their local communities. These young writers are a diverse, creative, intelligent group of trendsetting 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, participate in youth development programs, and highlight the voices of a new generation of leadership.

Following the April airing of the HBO special Brave New Voices - which filmed youth from across the country as they prepared for, and participated in, Brave New Voices 2008 in Washington DC – the festival in Chicago will be the largest, most high-visible Brave New Voices yet.

The 5-day festival features 25 events across Chicago in community-based theaters, major performance venues, public spaces and college campuses. Brave New Voices 2008 Washington DC took place in venues that included the Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institute, and The Lincoln Theater, the Capitol Building, George Washington University, and Lafayette Park.

If you are a team, and would like to register click here.