Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM November 8-14, 2023 UCW 11 EVENTS Lost Voices Empire presents the High School Poetry Slam by AMBER LITTLE Calling all high school poets, now is the time to shine! Lost Voices Empire LLC presents in collabo- ration with the Fayetteville Arts Council and Cumberland County Schools, the First Annual High School Poetry Slam on Nov. 18th from noon to 2 p.m. at e Stadium Event Center, located at 421 Maid- en Lane. Special guest judges include Po- etic Zae, Alexis Lawson, Suavethe- poet, Nick Courmon and Jeremiah I'Shod. Tickets for the event are donation-based, give what you can. is project is supported by a mini grant from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County and, in part, by contributions from the City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County and other community partners. e event is sponsored by MUG Photography and e Insur- ance Lady. Bringing young poets together from across the county, the High School Poetry Slam is setting the stage to bring the brightest, new- est talent to a big stage for an epic competition. Poetry slams are a unique poetic experience, bringing a competi- tive element to a time-honored art form. Poets will perform original poems and judges will score each one based on the poem and perfor- mance. In the end, only one poet remains as the champion. Andre Sansbury, CEO of Lost Voices Empire LLC and one of the judges, explains the slam setup. "15 High School Students from Cumberland County Schools ver- balizing their best poems, judged by 5 national poets, over 3 rounds until a winner is crowned," he said. Poets are asked to follow slam rules: 1. Material must be an original piece of work. 2. You do not have to memorize your poem. Phones and paper can be used during the slam. 3. Poets get 3 minutes to perform one poem with a 3-second grace period. 4. Poets will lose .5 points for each minute they go over given time 5. Poets may not use props, in- struments or music while perform- ing 6. e poem cannot include any hateful and/or offensive language to any person/persons. 7. e poet receives scores of 10 from 5 randomly selected judges. e high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score out of 30. MC for the night is Soe the Monk with an opening performance by judge Jeremiah I'Shod. Intermis- sion entertainment will be none other than Poetic Zae, the 5th- ranking poet in the nation. Closing out the evening will be best-selling author and multi-published poet, Sauvethepoet. Registration ended October 22nd, and is officially full, a sign to Sansbury that this will continue to be an annual event. "Judging by the sign ups and buy in already, I see this event becoming an annual opportunity for students to display their tal- ents and vocalize their emotions through spoken word, something me and my organization actually teach in Schools through a program called 'Purpose through Poetry' . is program is currently in place at Ramsey High, Pine Forest, and Douglas Byrd and is supported by the Fayetteville Arts Council," said Sansbury. AMBER LITTLE, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upand- comingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. FREE HEALTH CARE • for Eligible uninsured Adults call 910.485.0555