Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
Meredith Monk Quartet
March 16 @ Dallas City Performance Hall, 8 pm
Buy Tickets

A Limited Number of Meet/Greet Tickets Are Available
Meredith Monk is internationally celebrated as “a magician of the voice”. Her work has been presented at major venues around the world. Among her many accolades, she was recently named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France and the 2012 Composer of the Year by Musical America. In conjunction with her 50th Season of creating and performing, she was appointed the 2014-15 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair at Carnegie Hall. In September 2015, Ms. Monk received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama. Ms. Monk’s rare Dallas appearance will feature her in performance with the Meredith Monk Quartet.
2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam Opens
WordSpace and Latino Cultural Center
joins Dallas and Candy to present
THE LAST CHANCE SLAM
Wednesday, March 15
7 pm Latino Cultural Center
Tickets: $10
Friday, March 16 @ Kettle Art
Sign up begins at 6:30
Women of the World FestivalMarch 15-18
Hosted by: Candy and Dallas Poetry Slam
More Info coming soon!
WordSpace is honored to partner with Latino Cultural Center and the national organization, Poetry Slam Inc. to sponsor The Last Chance Slam supporting the kick off for the three day Women of the World Slam, coordinated and hosted by Candy for Dallas. Special Thanks to Candy (also Slam Master of Dallas Poetry Slam) for bringing this prestigious festival to the City of Dallas. Additional volunteer coordinators include GNO and Princess McDowell. Events associated with this festival will be held throughout the day and night. Daily competitions at venues in Deep Ellum, lead up to the final competition held at The Majestic Theater on Saturday, March 18. Festival passes and entry submissions for the festival will be available soon. Additional volunteer coordinators include GNO and Princess McDowell.
WordSpace is also honored to partner with the Women of the World Poetry Workshops at the Dallas Public Library.
Still have questions? Check it: Poetry Slam Inc. WOWPS FAQ
About Poetry Slam Inc.: The mission of Poetry Slam Incorporated (PSI) is to promote the performance and creation of poetry while cultivating literary activities and spoken word events in order to build audience participation, stimulate creativity, awaken minds, foster education, inspire mentoring, encourage artistic statement and engage communities worldwide in the revelry of language.
Poetry Slam, Inc. is the official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization charged with overseeing the international coalition of poetry slams. Though slams are maintained in a growing number of cities by local volunteer organizers, the vast majority of slam series follow the rules established by the governing body, and are certified by the governing body as slams that adhere to the vision slam’s founders established for the art form over a decade ago. Because of slam’s exponential growth as an art form, PSI has emerged not only as an administrative body to maintain the rules which govern slam, but as an organization that seeks to grow slam’s audience and protect slam’s interests. The Executive Council, headed by a seven-member Executive Council comprised of poets and slam organizers, and voted on by representatives of local slams, maintains a vigilant watch of poetry slam series worldwide, insuring that slam maintains itself as an art form open to all competitors. Through the certification process and its annual organizational meetings, PSI has created the backbone for a community of poets who are in frequent communication with one another, in order to pool ideas and share creative resources to insure the future growth and recognition of slam. Poets from the community frequently embark on poetry tours in other slam cities, relying on each other to set up the venues and housing necessary for such tours.
While PSI’s main focus in past years has been the maintenance and growth of the National Poetry Slam, the organization is embarking on a series of programs and actions that seek to increase the public awareness of slams. These projects include the maintenance of an official website, an agreement with television producers seeking to stage slams for a major cable television network, and the formation of regional competitions, which would place officially-sanctioned team competitions in a number of host cities each year and concentrate the high level of talent present at the annual Nationals.
Poetry Slam, Inc. was first officially proposed in August of 1996, at the Slam Family meeting in Portland, Oregon, though it had been talked about at the annual spring meeting for at least two years prior to that.
A corporate Charter and official bylaws worked their way into existence through several steps over the course of the next year. But, by official and unanimous acclimation, Poetry Slam, Inc. was brought to reality on August 9, 1997.
About Women of the World Poetry Slam:
Women of the World Poetry Slam is a performance poetry tournament designed for individual competition, where poets will perform four poems of varying lengths during preliminary bouts. Taking place March 15th - 18th, the top poets will go on to finals to compete for the title of, The 2017 Women of the World Champion!
What are the rules?
Each poem must be of the poet’s own construction;
Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score.
The poet may not use props, costumes or musical instruments;
Of the scores the poet received from the five judges, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score of 0-30.
Preliminary Bouts: Thursday & Friday – The order in which poets perform in the first round of each bout is assigned by a random draw at registration. Poets will compete in in one, two round bout each night, having a different slate of competitors each night. The first round of every bout will have a calibration poet, and if you’re lucky, maybe even a sorbet. Competing poets should be familiar with the Preliminary Bout format.
THURSDAY: 4 & 1 minute poems
First Round: poets read a four minute poem. The order of the second round is determined by the score in the first round: poets will read in order from high to low score. Second Round: poets read a one minute poem.
FRIDAY: 2 & 3 minute poems
First Round: poets read a two minute poem. The order of the second round is determined by the score in the first round: poets will read in order from high to low score. Second Round: poets read a three minute poem.
The top twelve poets of all bouts advance to the finals.
SATURDAY: Final Stage
The thirteenth ranked poet is designated the calibration poet. All poems in the finals are three minute poems and no poems may be repeats from earlier in the tournament.
First Round: Twelve poets read, top seven move to the second round.
Second Round: Seven poets read, top ranked four of to final round.
Final Round: Four poets read and the poet with the highest score is crowned the Woman of the World Poetry Slam Champion. If there is a tie between the top two poets, they read one more poem in a sudden death match. Judges indicate which poet they prefer and the champion is crowned.
Kiese Laymon-African Diaspora New Dialogues
Who: Kiese Laymon
What: AFRICAN DIASPORA; NEW DIALOGUES 2017
When/Where: Richland College, noon-1, MARCH 1
When/Where: South Dallas Cultural Center 7:30 MARCH 2
Hosted and Facilitated by Author Sanderia Faye.

Kiese Laymon is a black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA in Fiction from Indiana University and is currently a Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of Mississippi. Laymon is the author of the novel, Long Division and a collection of essays, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, the UK edition released in 2016. Laymon has written essays, stories and reviews for numerous publications including Esquire, ESPN the Magazine, Colorlines, NPR, LitHub, The Los Angeles Times, PEN Journal, Oxford American, The Best American Series, and Guernica. He is a currently a columnist at The Guardian.
Long Division was named one of the Best of 2013 by Buzzfeed, The Believer, Salon, Guernica, Contemporary Literature, Mosaic Magazine, Library Journal, Chicago Tribune and the Crunk Feminist Collective. It was also short-listed for the Believer Book Award, the Ernest Gaines Award and the Morning News Tournament of Books. Long Division won the 2014 Saroyan International Writing Award on November 10th. Three essays in “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America” have been included in the Best American series, the Best of Net award, and the Atlantic’s Best Essays of 2013. He was selected a member of the Root 100 in 2013 and 2014 and Ebony Magazine Power 100 in 2015.
Kiese Laymon has two books forthcoming, including a memoir called Heavy which will be released in 2016 and the novel called And So On which can be expected in the Spring of 2017, both from Scribner.
Sanderia Faye is an award winning writer, born and raised in Gould, Arkansas. She is the author of Mourner’s Bench (University of Arkansas Press, September 2015). Her work has appeared in various literary journals and in Arsnick: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas, edited by historians Dr. Jennifer Wallach and Dr. John Kirk. Faye is co-founder and fellow at Kimbilio Center for Fiction. She moderated a 2015 AWP panel and the grassroots panel for the Arkansas Civil Rights Symposium during the Freedom Riders 50th Anniversary. She is a recipient of awards, residencies, and fellowships from Hurston/Wright Writers Conference, Eckerd College’s Writers in Paradise Conference, Callaloo Writers Workshop, Vermont, Writers Studio, The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow, and Martha’s Vineyard Writers Residency. Faye is also a PhD student in English at North Texas University. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State University, and a BS in Accounting from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She was an instructor for The United States Navy-Navy College Program for Afloat College Education (NCPACE).

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About African Diaspora: New Dialogues:
Three years ago, WordSpace met with Vicki Meek, the Manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center. SDCC had recently helped us promote Nikki Giovanni’s appearance at The Kessler and we realized a deeper partnership and think tank might just be the thing to do. Dee Mitchell and Vicki came up with the title: African Diaspora: New Dialogues. From there, we partnered in thought with folks like Sanderia Faye and are honored to have brought some of the best of new writing by the brightest stars of African Diaspora artists. Highlights have included Chris Abani, Mitchell Jackson, and Vievee Francis. These are important writers we want you to know about!
As Vicki Meek retired from 20 years of service from her position as Manager of South Dallas Cultural Center, we are now delighted to enjoy the same level of excitement in working with new SDCC manager, Harold Steward, to collaborate and bring this profound series.
Since its inception, thanks to Dallas writer/educators such as Tim Cloward, the visiting writers have visited Dallas schools offering meaningful visits and readings.
In 2016, thanks to Sara Cardona, we were able to expand this educational outreach to partner with Richland Literary Festival. Other 2017 visiting writers will visit Booker T. Washington School for Visual and Performing Arts. It’s a Win / Win for the City of Dallas.
Sponsored by WordSpace, City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, South Dallas Cultural Center, Richland College and The Artists Community Alliance (TACA).
It takes a village! And we thank you – all.
Women of the World Poetry Slam

When: March 15-18
Hosted by: Candy and Dallas, TX
Sponsored by: Poetry Slam Inc
Ticket passes /More Info coming soon!
WordSpace is honored to partner with the national organization, Poetry Slam Inc. to sponsor the workshops component of the three day Women of the World Slam, coordinated and hosted by Candy for Dallas. Special Thanks to Candy (also Slam Master of Dallas Poetry Slam) for bringing this prestigious festival to the City of Dallas. Additional volunteer coordinators include GNO and Princess McDowell. Events associated with this festival will be held throughout the day and night. Daily competitions at venues in Deep Ellum, lead up to the final competition held at The Majestic Theater on Saturday, March 18. Festival passes and entry submissions for the festival will be available soon. Additional volunteer coordinators include GNO and Princess McDowell.
Still have questions? Check it: Poetry Slam Inc. WOWPS FAQ
About Poetry Slam Inc.: The mission of Poetry Slam Incorporated (PSI) is to promote the performance and creation of poetry while cultivating literary activities and spoken word events in order to build audience participation, stimulate creativity, awaken minds, foster education, inspire mentoring, encourage artistic statement and engage communities worldwide in the revelry of language.
Poetry Slam, Inc. is the official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization charged with overseeing the international coalition of poetry slams. Though slams are maintained in a growing number of cities by local volunteer organizers, the vast majority of slam series follow the rules established by the governing body, and are certified by the governing body as slams that adhere to the vision slam’s founders established for the art form over a decade ago. Because of slam’s exponential growth as an art form, PSI has emerged not only as an administrative body to maintain the rules which govern slam, but as an organization that seeks to grow slam’s audience and protect slam’s interests. The Executive Council, headed by a seven-member Executive Council comprised of poets and slam organizers, and voted on by representatives of local slams, maintains a vigilant watch of poetry slam series worldwide, insuring that slam maintains itself as an art form open to all competitors. Through the certification process and its annual organizational meetings, PSI has created the backbone for a community of poets who are in frequent communication with one another, in order to pool ideas and share creative resources to insure the future growth and recognition of slam. Poets from the community frequently embark on poetry tours in other slam cities, relying on each other to set up the venues and housing necessary for such tours.
While PSI’s main focus in past years has been the maintenance and growth of the National Poetry Slam, the organization is embarking on a series of programs and actions that seek to increase the public awareness of slams. These projects include the maintenance of an official website, an agreement with television producers seeking to stage slams for a major cable television network, and the formation of regional competitions, which would place officially-sanctioned team competitions in a number of host cities each year and concentrate the high level of talent present at the annual Nationals.
Poetry Slam, Inc. was first officially proposed in August of 1996, at the Slam Family meeting in Portland, Oregon, though it had been talked about at the annual spring meeting for at least two years prior to that.
A corporate Charter and official bylaws worked their way into existence through several steps over the course of the next year. But, by official and unanimous acclimation, Poetry Slam, Inc. was brought to reality on August 9, 1997.
About Women of the World Poetry Slam:
Women of the World Poetry Slam is a performance poetry tournament designed for individual competition, where poets will perform four poems of varying lengths during preliminary bouts. Taking place March 15th - 18th, the top poets will go on to finals to compete for the title of, The 2017 Women of the World Champion!
What are the rules?
Each poem must be of the poet’s own construction;
Each poet gets three minutes (plus a ten-second grace period) to read one poem. If the poet goes over time, points will be deducted from the total score.
The poet may not use props, costumes or musical instruments;
Of the scores the poet received from the five judges, the high and low scores are dropped and the middle three are added together, giving the poet a total score of 0-30.
Preliminary Bouts: Thursday & Friday – The order in which poets perform in the first round of each bout is assigned by a random draw at registration. Poets will compete in in one, two round bout each night, having a different slate of competitors each night. The first round of every bout will have a calibration poet, and if you’re lucky, maybe even a sorbet. Competing poets should be familiar with the Preliminary Bout format.
THURSDAY: 4 & 1 minute poems
First Round: poets read a four minute poem. The order of the second round is determined by the score in the first round: poets will read in order from high to low score. Second Round: poets read a one minute poem.
FRIDAY: 2 & 3 minute poems
First Round: poets read a two minute poem. The order of the second round is determined by the score in the first round: poets will read in order from high to low score. Second Round: poets read a three minute poem.
The top twelve poets of all bouts advance to the finals.
SATURDAY: Final Stage
The thirteenth ranked poet is designated the calibration poet. All poems in the finals are three minute poems and no poems may be repeats from earlier in the tournament.
First Round: Twelve poets read, top seven move to the second round.
Second Round: Seven poets read, top ranked four of to final round.
Final Round: Four poets read and the poet with the highest score is crowned the Woman of the World Poetry Slam Champion. If there is a tie between the top two poets, they read one more poem in a sudden death match. Judges indicate which poet they prefer and the champion is crowned.

