Spoken word is alive and well in Sunshine Coast schools.
Over the past four months, students have had the opportunity to work with spoken word artists Jillian Christmas, Bertha Clark, Valerie Mason-John, Brendan McLeod and Janet Marie Rogers. Through a series of classroom visits, the students have been challenged and inspired to create their own work — both poetry and prose. For some of these students, the next step is performance.
The public is invited to attend the Spoken Word Festival, featuring both the students and their spoken word mentors, on Thursday and Friday, June 4 and 5, in the Festival Pavilion at the Rockwood Centre in Sechelt.
In the words of author and storyteller Richard Wagamese, “We change the world, one story at a time.” A story has the power to teach, to heal, to enlighten and to inspire. For the storyteller, there is the power that comes from telling a story that is heard. Sunshine Coast youth have much to say and this festival offers the opportunity for the community to listen.
The festival gets underway on Thursday evening, June 4 at 7 p.m. and continues during the day on Friday, June 5 from 9:15 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 to 2 p.m.
This project is a joint initiative of the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts and School District No. 46 and has been made possible with the financial support of the BC Arts Council, Sunshine Coast Community Foundation, Sunshine Coast Credit Union and TELUS.
The Spoken Word Festival is dedicated to Zaccheus Jackson Nyce, a dynamic and generous spoken word artist whose work in Sunshine Coast schools has had a lasting impact.
For more information, call the Festival of the Written Arts office at 604-885-9631.
