Youth Art Month

Flagstaff Cultural Partners celebrates National Youth Art Month (March) with our annual Youth Celebrate Art & Culture Exhibition and Celebration. Hundreds of local youth participate from every school in the greater Flagstaff area, exhibiting their visual art for the public and performing new works.

The Northern Arizona Youth Poetry Festival is also part of the month-long celebration, on March 27-28, 2010. Read below for details.

Funding for Youth Art Month comes from Arizona Public Service, the Flagstaff Community Foundation, the City of Flagstaff, and private donors.

2009 Youth Art Month Schedule

Exhibition Opening Reception
Youth Celebrate Art & Culture
Performances by local youth groups and schools and treats for the kids!
Saturday, February 27: 12-4pm

FALA Art Exhibition
Saturday, February 27: Flagstaff Arts & Leadership Academy high school hosts exhibition in our Jewel Gallery.

Young Voices Be Heard!
Northern Arizona Youth Poetry Festival

It's been three years already since the poetry festival at the Coconino Center for the Arts started. So far the festival has been blessed with Mary Sojourner, Sherwin Bitsui, Jill Divine and Jimmy Santiago Baca facilitating workshops and performances for our audiences to enjoy. In the past the festival has catered to the younger demographic of northern Arizona. And while we're continuing a youth based focus on March 27th and 28th, we're not leaving anyone out. No matter what age, anyone will be able to enjoy the incredible workshops, the other half of this wonderful festival. We're also focusing in on a high energy performance line up guaranteed to leave everyone gasping for air. Poets Myrlin Hepworth of Phoenix, Karega Ani of Atlanta, Ed Mabrey Jr. of Phoenix and Amy Everhart of Denver will make you believers again, in the power of spoken word.

* Myrlin James Gonzales Hepworth is a poet based out of Phoenix, Arizona and a member of the Arizona Commission on the Arts Teaching Roster. Hepworth has competed at three consecutive national poetry slams, helping his team reach the semi finals in 2009. In recent years Hepworth has performed and taught at numerous high schools across the state of Arizona, stretching from Tucson to Bullhead City. During the summer of 2009 Hepworth was successful in developing the first ever Arizona youth slam poetry team, VOICE, and bringing them to Brave New Voices (national youth poetry slam as seen on HBO) in Chicago, Illinois where VOICE placed 13th in the world out of over 50 teams. Hepworth continues to develop youth poetry groups within the Phoenix metropolitan area in conjunction with Young Voices Be Heard, Black Pearl Poetry (LLC), and the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

* Karega Ani from Atlanta, GA is performance poet by day and a cutting edge recording producer by late-night. He has been a member of the Detroit and Houston National Poetry Slam Teams. Karega Ani is a music producer from Houston, TX, currently based in Atlanta, GA. For roughly a decade, he's been busy developing his unique production style, living by the creed that diligent preparation must always precede presentation. In composing, Mr. Ani draws from a wide range of influences, from Hip Hop to straight ahead Jazz, from gospel to funk, from down home blues to hot buttered Soul. As such, he creates soundscapes that are as timeless as they are timely. He's had the pleasure of working with a myriad of artists representing a wide range of genres (Amp Fiddler, Veronique, Malik Alston, PKT, Inertia, Zin, Marie Brown, Black PROFIT, Taalam Acey, Mohogany Browne, et al.). Mr. Ani also has a wide range of selections geared toward film, gaming, advertisements, websites and other forms of media. He looks forward to putting his talents to work for our youth in Flagstaff.

* Ed Mabrey Jr of Phoenix, the 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, is the founder and CEO of Black Pearl Poetry Productions, which produced one of the most successful poetry shows in the country. He has been published numerous times including the national best selling anthology Spoken Word Revolution Redux by Sourcebooks. Mr. Mabrey tours internationally as a full-time poet and has conducted lectures in notable schools such as Yale University, Ohio State University, University of Arkansas and the New York Film Academy. Mr. Mabrey currently has four CD's available - The UN, From the Page to the Stage and Back Again, The Unsampler and UN/TILL.

* Amy Everhart is the 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the first woman to win the title. Currently living in Denver, Colorado, Amy has been on several National Poetry Slam Teams and tours the country. She moves and speaks as if she is equal parts conductor and virtuoso violinist. Like a conductor she directs and moves her listener with subtle, gentle nudges, instead of forcing, she coerces you into a state of believing anything is possible. Like a violinist, she is deceptive in her subject matter and use of language...she applies the bowed strings of her intent upon the body of your emotions and pulls, pushes, applies pressure until the notes which emanate from her resound within you. To hear her is to be part of an orchestra consisting of two people, she and you.

All of the beautiful wordsmiths at this years festival will be conducting workshops on Saturday and Sunday. At 7pm on Saturday, March 27th, a performance you won't want to miss, will feature all of these poets hosted by Christopher Lane, Executive Director of NORAZ Poets and winner of the 2010 Bill Desmond Writing Award. And at 6pm on Sunday, March 28th all young people participating in the weekend workshops will be eligible to perform their poems for all the world to witness. A schedule of workshops and performances follows.

Day One: Saturday March 27th
10am - 11am - Myrlin Hepworth workshop: Imagination Without Barriers
11am - 12noon - Amy Everhart workshop: Don't Be Afraid: Performance Essentials
1pm - 3pm - Karega Ani workshop: Recording Your Soul

7-9pm An Evening Celebration of Poetry! This is where you get to experience the power of our special guest poets. Admission is free and open to the public. Please arrive early to insure your seat is comfortable.

Day Two: Sunday, March 28th
11am - 12noon - Ed Mabrey Jr. workshop: Living the Dream: What your words can do for others
1pm - 3pm - Karega Ani will conclude his recordings of the students.

6-8pm Pizza and Poetry - This is where the students (exclusively) get to perform and have fun. We'll have pizza and sodas there and make it very relaxed. A big, open reading.

Starting this year the workshops will be open to everyone. Anyone over the age of 19 can pay $20 and attend all of the workshops if they wish. If only one day fits into your schedule, then $10 is all you need. Everyone 19 and younger gets in FREE! And of course the evening performances are free and open to the public. All you have to announce your attendance by calling the Coconino Center for the Arts at 928.779.2300. This festival was made possible by both the Sedona and Flagstaff Community Foundations as well as private donors. We are grateful for their generosities.

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