Help send the Bay Area Unified Slam Team to the National Poetry Slam in Boston this August!

Greetings artists, teachers, family and friends,

As many of you already know, this year the Bay Area is sending a Unified slam team to the National Poetry Slam in Boston, Massachusetts. This year’s four person team includes: Sam Sax, Tim Toaster Henderson, Cameron Awkward-Rich and Katelyn Lucas.

First of all, if you have already donated, THANK YOU. Without you, this adventure would not be possible. Your perks should be on your doorstep before the campaign ends. We would humbly encourage you to share this note and Indiegogo Campaign with anyone you know who might be able to further enhance our efforts, including parents, bosses, friends, neighbors, and more! Some of our perks include private live performances and even LIFETIME admission to local shows. If you have suggestions for contacts, please feel free to get in touch with any of us.

By helping to send these four representatives to the National Poetry Slam, you are investing in so much more than a competition. This summer we will, of course, be diving into our own writing and performance. However, because we are also educators and organizers, we will be using Nationals as a time to discover ways to improve our Bay Area shows, programs, and community. Nationals provides us with an opportunity to meet with the top poets and teaching artists in the United States and to encourage their travel and performance on the West Coast. It also allows us to pursue opportunities to perform and teach in their states.

Here are some examples of our work beyond the stage:
Sam Sax is a two time Bay Area Unified Grand Slam Champion and the two time Oakland GrandSlam Champion. He Co-founded and co-curates the New Sh!t Show, facilitates intergenerational writing workshops, and is a new MFA Candidate at UT Austin where he'll be moving in August.

Katelyn Lucas is co-founder of The Voice Of A Generation, a multimedia arts company pairing artists with opportunities. Most recently, the focus of the organization has been to reinstate the arts in schools. This past year TVOAG helped prove that poetry is far from dead! In the 2012-13 school year, TVOAG placed half-a-dozen teaching artists in paid positions and showcased the Bay Area’s rich arts culture in numerous live assemblies. TVOAG also runs a local college slam and promotes the local poetry scene through social media and photography.

Tim Toaster Henderson is an artist out of Chicago, Illinois. A muralist, poet and musician, Toaster uses a kaleidoscope of artistic vision to create, express and teach. Over the past year, he has hosted assemblies, facilitated writing and theater workshops, and painted murals as a resident teaching artist for The Voice of A Generation. He also serves as a regular host for local poetry venues including the “Berkeley Slam” and the “Oakland Poetry Slam.”

Cameron-Awkward Rich has recently joined the New Sh!t Show team and has represented bay area venues in national slam competitions at both the adult and college level. Additionally, Cam has been a writing instructor and member of the Spoken Word Collective at Stanford University, where he is pursuing a PhD from the program in Modern Thought and Literature.


Quite simply, this journey will not be possible without your support. Our goal is to raise $3000 in 37 days. Thank you so much for your time, and please share this freely with anyone who might be able to help us out!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/send-bay-area-unified-to-the-national-poetry-slam-in-boston?c=home