Word – The Front Line Poetry Slam take three

Word – The Front Line Poetry Slam take three

This year with the support of Auckland Live, Action Education and the South Auckland Poets Collective are holding the 3rd annual inter-high school Spoken Word poetry competition “Word – The Front Line.”

Following the huge success of Word – The Front Line 2015, the third take has graduated to the next level with the grand slam taking place on August 27th2016 in the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall at 7pm.

Not an easy battle, the competition started with 160 young people from 37 teams from 24 different high schools across Auckland. After making it through the Slam Camp, workshops and the gruelling semi-finals, 6 high schools will make it through to share their stories in an explosion of youth expression.

“Word the Front Line broke my idea of what poetry was in a good way. It has taught me that everyone has a story and I now relate to people and scenarios I thought I never would be capable of relating to,” says Kannann Ganesh whose Lynfield College team has made the final.

It is the only creative battlefield of its kind, equipping young people with poetry prowess for an opportunity to battle it out and confront the challenges that their generation faces.

"If you want to hear what's going on for the young people in our community, you need to get to this slam." (Audience Member 2014)

The Spoken Word competition encourages young people to use spoken word poetry to express themselves and tell their own stories.

In its essence it is about young people stepping up to their challenges head on and slaying them with their words. It is about young people speaking up about their concerns about New Zealand and the issues facing their generation.

“It is my second year doing Word and it has helped me with things as small as relieving stress and as big as helping me to learn how to deal with social anxiety and feel comfortable enough to not only be in a crowd but express myself to them. Word the Front Line opened an entire new world that I think everyone should get to experience,” says Aleisha Parkinson from Glenfield College.

It is about young people from all walks of life, communities, faiths, cultures, world views and neighbourhoods coming together and speaking with their hearts in a fresh and authentic dialogue.

This is New Zealands first inter high school team slam and is something that you do not want to miss, it is something that needs to be experienced to be believed.

Competing in the final are teams from:

Selwyn College
Lynfield College
Marist College
Mount Albert Grammar
McAuley High School
Glenfield College

Action Education is a not-for-profit organisation set up to engage and empower young people through creative and action based methods.
South Auckland Poets Collective is a group of 10 storytellers with a passion for using Spoken Word to engage and inspire youth.
Together they form a dynamic team of artists and mentors who care about the community and drawing out the leadership potential of our young people.

Tickets are a steal at $15 for adults and $10 for students.

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