By Léna Roy, Director of Teen Programs, Writopia Lab
On Saturday, April 26th, Writopia hosted another Teen Open Mic event in partnership with the esteemed Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Writopia has long partnered with the Nuyorican, but it wasn’t until a year and a half ago that we were approached with the idea of a monthly Teen Open Mic Event at P&T Knitwear, a bookstore, coffee shop, and event space on the Lower East Side. (The brick and mortar building of the Nuyorican is undergoing an extensive three-year renovation, having secured a hefty grant from the city.) We designed a program where we would have teens from our Creative Portfolio program co-emcee each event, calling teens up to the mic and really listening to each performer, giving short specific feedback about what moved them. This would be followed by inviting all performers to the stage for an author Q&A.
Our first event was in January 2024, and we started out small, with other teens from Writopia. Over the months, we have grown our community to many teens from different backgrounds beyond the Writopiaverse.
On Saturday, April 26th, Lili Sella and Maxanne Wallace-Segall from Writopia’s Creative Portfolio program co-emceed a beautiful and vibrant event with warmth and inclusivity. 26 readers took the stage, including Writopians Eliza Rorech, Max Lally, Yanic Valbrune, Lena Paul, Angelika Rubenstein, and Thuy Holder-Vinh.
In light of April being a celebration of poetry, instead of a Q&A, we brought index cards with short prompts and collaborated on a group poem, which was then curated and performed with joy and enthusiasm by our co-emcees, Maxanne and Lily.
The next two Open Mics coming up are on Saturday, June 28th, and then on Sunday, July 20th. You can sign up to read here!
In August, we will set up a calendar for the entire school year.
