BUSBOYS AND POETS Present: the BELTWAY POETRY SLAM #DefendCivilRights 9.24.19
Date and Time
Sep 24, 2019 9:00 pm
Location
Brookland
625 Monroe St NE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20017
Sep 24, 2019 9:00 pm
Brookland
Busboys and Poets Presents the Beltway Slam: SOCIAL JUSTICE SLAM #DefendCivilRights
in Partnership with NFHA
Comment Writing Party:
Join us as we submit individual comments in opposition to Trump’s proposed Disparate Impact rule.
Social Justice Slam:
CASH PRIZES & Points Awarded to the Top 3 Winners of the slam!
Join us for a night of competitve poetry and social justice, as poets will speak truth to power
Limited number of poets: Sign Up for the slam begins promptly at 8:30PM. only 8 POETS MAXIMUM WILL COMPETE IN TONIGHT'S SLAM. CASH PRIZE AWARDED TO THE WINNER OF THIS SLAM AS WELL AS A SHOWCASE SLOT in the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) Disparate Impact Event.
About NFHA
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Washington DC, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the only national organization dedicated solely to ending discrimination in housing. NFHA works to eliminate housing discrimination and to ensure equal housing opportunity for all people through leadership, education and outreach, membership services, public policy initiatives, community development, advocacy and enforcement.
FEATURING: MECCAMORPHOSIS
Meccamorphosis is an author, actress, teaching artist and poet. Mecca first garnished national attention after winning Brave New Voices, an international youth poetry slam. Since then Mecca has been traveling the country performing, teaching and building upon the intersection of activism and art. Mecca is an incredible voice for Black women everywhere.
HOSTED BY: Angelique Palmer with Sounds by DJ DOUBLE A1K
Pages Matam is an international artist & educator from Cameroon, Central Africa, currently residing in Washington D.C. He is the Director of Poetry Events for Busboys and Poets, a Callaloo Fellow, and Write Bloody published author of The Heart of a Comet (2014), A national and 2x regional poetry slam champion, he has passions in the field of education, violence and abuse trauma work, immigration reform and youth advocacy.
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ALL THOSE PARTICIPATING IN THE SLAM MUST ARRIVE BY 8:30 AND BUY THEIR TICKETS IN PERSON!!
$5 Cover. On the day of the event, tickets can be purchased online starting at midnight and in the restaurant starting at 10:00 AM (cash only). No refunds. Ticket purchase limit of 4 per person. Guests must have their wristbands (tickets) on upon entering the event.
Seating is available on a first come, first seated basis. No saved or reserved seats are allowed. Failure to check in within 30 minutes of advertised start time may result in forfeiture of seats.
Rules and Procedures for 2019-2020 Season
Each open slam will be two rounds. Standard PSI rules apply (3 minutes, own work, no props, etc). The first round will have 12-15 poets and the order will be by random draw. The top eight poets from the first round will move on to the second round and the order will be high to low from the first round.
Participation by Lottery:
The list for the night will be held by the Bout Manager. Poets MUST speak with the Bout Manager in person on the night of the slam to be placed on the list. Doors open 8:30pm. The slam list opens at 8:45pm. Slam begins at 9pm.
The Draw (if there are more than 12 poets):
The draw will happen at 8:50 SHARP. If there is a lottery, the pull to determine who is slamming will also determine the order in which they will compete. Poets MUST be present at the time of the lottery/draw. If a poet’s name is pulled for a lottery and they are not present or very easily locatable, they forfeit their place and are not eligible for the bonus entry described above. If there is no lottery and a poet is not present or easily locatable during the draw, that poet will compete first; if they are still not present when their name is called during the first round, they will not slam that night.Speciality Slam Dates and Info:Team semi-finals:
The top 12 poets from the season will compete with 3 minute poems. Any poem from the season can be repeated for the semifinals/finals but you cannot repeat the same poem(s) you do in semifinals in finals.
Only top eight advance to finals in April. The top eight order also decides order of first round in Finals (i.e. if you won semis, you go last, etc…)
Team finals: March
Top four make up the team with the Grand Slam Champion.Poets will compete in a three round slam (all three minute poems) where the four poets with the highest cumulative score will be named the team for the National Poetry Slam that year. Poets may not repeat poems from semi-finals. The team may opt to allow the 5th place poet on the team as an additional member.
Slam for WOWPS (Qualifiers, then Top Four in Finals)
Slam for IWPS (Grand Slam Champ gets an automatic bid into IWPS Finals, everyone else goes to IWPS Qualifiers and Top Three + Grand Slam Champion go to IWPS Finals)
