Calling all MC’s, Poets, Performers, Comedians, Join our tribe as a new Open Mic Host for our in-house series!

We are launching brand new programming & specialty events which will be part of our in-house series – such as Open Mic night & LIVE at Busboys and Poets – at our newly opened Anacostia Busboys and Poets location.

We are looking for funny, energetic, charismatic, and socio-politically aware people who can facilitate an open or closed mic style event for two hours.

Email us poetry@busboysandpoets.com or go to https://www.busboysandpoets.com/about/join-our-tribe/ to enter your information

Job Type: Contract

Experience:

Hosting: 1 year (Required)

Contract Renewal:

Annually

Please send – a writing sample, 2 videos/audios of you performing or hosting, 2 references, an EPK (Electronic Press Kit or Resume), and short statement on why you would fit as a Busboys and Poets host.

Payment – You receive a $100 honorarium for each hosting gig, plus a $25 meal comp NOT including Alcoholic purchases.

Preference given to poet, performers, and residents of Ward 7 and 8.

About Busboys and Poets:
Busboys and Poets is a community where racial and cultural connections are consciously uplifted… a place to take a deliberate pause and feed your mind, body and soul…a space for art, culture and politics to intentionally collide… we believe that by creating such a space we can inspire social change and begin to transform our community and the world.

The Making of Busboys and Poets

A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets

We’re proud to announce A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets, the new memoir from our CEO and Founder, which reveals the vision, challenges, and triumphs behind opening Busboys and Poets. Packed with misadventures, unexpected triumphs, and insights on race, business and politics, Andy Shallal’s memoir takes us on a “How I Built … Continued

PHOTO 2024 02 01 07 10 14

For Langston Hughes on His 123 Birthday

Speech given on February 1, 2024 in Havana, Cuba In 1927 Langston Hughes walked into a Cuba amid an emerging community of artists, intellectuals, and radicals.  He saw a “sunrise in a new land [– a day – in his words]sic – full of brownskin surprises, and hitherto unknown contacts in a world of color.”  … Continued

PALESTINE WEEK 1920 x 1080 px 2

Palestine Week 2024

January 18, 2024 – January 25, 2024 In keeping with our ongoing mission of uplifting racial and cultural connections, Busboys and Poets is hosting Palestine Week (January 18 through January 25, 2024). This week-long series of events will offer a diverse range of programming featuring Palestinian food, music, dance, poetry, discussions, and other enriching events. … Continued

10. A visual and sensory feast.

Art percolates throughout Cuba. It shows up on the streets. In alleys. On the veranda at the Nacional. Where live music is on nightly display. Until the wee hours of the morning. It is present in the poorest parts of town. In restaurants. Where the sound of guitars and maracas fills the air. And in … Continued

Busboys and Poets Books Review: My Guantanamo Diary

Busboys and Poets Books Review: My Guantanamo Diary

Have you set a goal or a resolution for the New Year? As I’m reading My Guantanamo Diary (PublicAffairs $14.99), by Mahvish Rukhsana Khan for an upcoming literary club with a dramatic twist (details to follow), I’d like to encourage you to consider participation in the arts as a worthy goal for 2018. Artists, writers … Continued

busboys books1

Split This Rock Poem of the Week: Doritt Carroll

intermittent apnea of unknown causation   I. the first time it happened i thought i was being strangled four fingers compressing each side of my throat no air II. have you ever eaten crabs? first you flip the breast tab up then you fold the crab back like the binding of a new book then … Continued