Street poets raise their voices this Summer

Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STREET POETS RAISE THEIR VOICES THIS SUMMER
AUCKLAND LIVE and NIU NAVIGATIONS present
RISING VOICES SUMMER SERIES
Curated by GRACE TAYLOR

Auckland Live and Niu Navigations come together again to present Rising Voices Summer Series – a showcase of Aotearoa’s most electric, hilarious and passionate slam poets this 12-14 February. Part of Auckland Fringe and featuring an Auckland Pride Festival line-up onFriday 13 February – the Rising Voices alumni will collectively challenge Aucklanders’ perception of street poets.

Rising Voices Summer Series will bring together the best poets from across the region to showcase what it means to be an Aucklander today. Drawing from their diverse backgrounds, these performers will fuse their words with dance, theatre, music, movement and video. Together over three nights they will rewrite the rule book on poetry, rattle our thoughts and bring their words alive in our hearts.

“Our hope is that the poets will really be able to show who they are without the normal rules of Slam Poetry applying,” says Co-Founder of Rising Voices, Grace Taylor. “I’m really excited to see how far they push themselves and what might emerge in the wake”.

“These are the young rising voices of our nation, voices worth hearing.”
Metro Magazine

Rising Voices Youth Poetry Slam – a platform for youth to find their timbre and tongue - opened its doors and introduced a new audience to the world of spoken word poetry in 2011. Four slams later Rising Voices has become an institution and the spoken word poetry scene in Aotearoa has never looked so good. In 2013, they expanded to Christchurch and in 2014 the inaugural Rising Voices Summer Series kicked off the year with a bang.

Co-Founder Grace Taylor – the most accomplished of poets herself – is the recent recipient of the 2014 Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Emerging Pacific Artist award after returning from the 2014 Edinburgh’s International Scottish Storytelling Festival where she was a guest poet. 2013 saw her speak at the Auckland Writer’s Festival, present at TEDx Auckland, while also publishing her first book of poetry – Afakasi Speaks.

Rising Voices inevitably makes “the packed crowd [have] goosebumps” Metro Magazine.

RISING VOICES SUMMER SERIES plays
Dates: 12-14 February, 7pm
Venue: Herald Theatre, 50 Mayoral Drive, Auckland
Tickets: $19-$25 (service fees apply)
Bookings: www.ticketmaster.co.nz // 09 970 9700
*Some content may offend

Facebook: rising.voices.poetry Web: aucklandlive.co.nz Twitter: @AucklandLive

Auckland Fringe 2015 is an open access arts festival where anything can happen. The 2015 programme will see work happening all over the show, pushing the boundaries of performance Auckland wide from February 11 to March 1. www.aucklandfringe.co.nz

Auckland Pride is New Zealand’s largest festival celebrating the colourful and diverse LGBTIQ community. Auckland Pride Festival 2015 runs from February 7 to March 1. For more information visit aucklandpridefestival.org.nz, facebook.com/AkldPrideFest ortwitter.com/AkldPrideFest

© Scoop Media