Since 2003, Youth Speaks Seattle has been the city’s premier collective for youth spoken word poetry, creating avenues for youth voices through creative writing instruction and performance opportunities. Over the years, Youth Speaks Seattle has conducted residencies and visited classrooms in nearly all of Seattle’s public high schools, hosted a thriving monthly open mic series, transformative all-city writing circles and explosive poetry slam competitions.
We want to inform you about some changes that are happening with Youth Speaks Seattle. In Spring of 2020, members of Youth Speaks Seattle Community decided to separate from Arts Corps. Youth Speaks Seattle is no longer a part of their organization or collaborating with them. We have a clear difference of values. Youth Speaks Seattle values community, truth, vulnerability, transparency, and accountability. We know that community is what breathes life into Youth Speaks Seattle. That our networks and love for one another stretch far and wide. Though we will never be perfect, we do not want to cause harm to our community members. When we do, we will do our best to be as accountable and transparent as possible. At the end of the day, we exist as a space for Youth Voice, Youth Leadership, and Social Justice movements. Social Justice is not an afterthought or a mission statement or a buzzword. It is crucial to our survival and the survival of everything and everyone we hold dear. Although this is a wild time for a transition, we are so excited for this next chapter of Youth Speaks Seattle and we trust our community to support and join us as we change and adjust.
