SoulSoundsOpenMic1The Golden Thyme Coffee Café and the Saint Paul Almanac are pleased to announce the “Soul Sounds Open Mic,” hosted by Tish Jones! The “Soul Sounds Open Mic” series is held every Thursday, with a special pre-performance writing workshop on the first Thursday of each month.

November 13th with Lisa Brimmer

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This week at Soul Sounds Open Mic with Lisa Brimmer.” Nov. 13th – Lisa Brimmer is a poet and playwright residing in Minneapolis, MN. In 2009, she attended the Juniper Summer Writers Institute week long workshop with Dara Weir. Brimmer was a fellow through the Given’s Foundation of African American Literature in 2009 and worked with Ishmael Reed, E. Ethelbert Miller, and Laurie Carlos. In 2010, she was a Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Fellow. Her work has been produced by Bedlam Theatre’s 10 Minute Community Play Festival. Her poetry has been published in the Summit Avenue Review and Konch Literary Magazine and featured in the Lowertown Reading Jam Series, the Pillsbury House Theatre’s Late Nite, and The Loft Literary Center’s EQ (Equilibrium) Spoken Word Series. Her band High Society has been featured on KFAI and MPR.

Nov. 20th – National Drop Out Crisis: Youth Poets Push Back

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Spring and Summer 2014, TruArtSpeaks embarked on a campaign to foreground youth voice and expertise addressing the national dropout crisis through Spoken Word and Rap. The project was in connection to the national RaiseUp Project and offered a $5,000 education scholarship to five young artists on a national level and three, 3-tier cash prizes on a state level here in Minnesota. The culminating ceremony for the national winners occurred this past September in Washington D.C. and it is time to announce the winners of our initiative!

In first place is Ben Easley with “Dropouts,” in second place is Ashley Benert with “Untitled,” and in third place is Matt Carlyon with “Root Killer.”

Push Back winners and contestants are invited to a public viewing of selected poems, include the top three poems, on Thursday, November 20th, 2014 at Golden Thyme Café in Saint Paul, MN from 6-8p. There will be light refreshments, participant testimonials and award dispersal.

The event takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Golden Thyme Coffee Café at 921 Selby Avenue (corner of North Milton Street) in Saint Paul. All ages are welcome, and there is no cover charge. Every first Thursday, a writing workshop will be held an hour before the open mic begins, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

About Host Tish Jones

Tish Jones is a spoken word artist, writer, educator, organizer, and activist in the Twin Cities. She has worked as a teaching artist with Pillsbury House Theater, Intermedia Arts, Plymouth Christian Youth Center, MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis Public Schools (Arts for Academic Achievement), Kulture Klub, and many other arts organizations. She received the 2009 Artist of the Year Award from City Pages and was Female Spoken Word Artist of the Year at the Minnesota Spoken Word Association’s Urban Griots Awards in 2009.

About the Soul Sounds Open Mic

SSOM-Poster-summer-fall-2014The Soul Sounds Open Mic is a platform for encouraging literacy within the Saint Paul community through leadership, mentoring, and relationship building. Unlike actors and many musicians, writers typically work in isolation, so building and supporting a literary community can be a challenge.

The “open mic” format, together with a featured performer, is designed to foster leadership; encourage connecting opportunities between established, emerging, and amateur writers; and help build, strengthen, and leverage other opportunities for the Saint Paul literary community.

Featured performers are recognized as leaders in the literary arts community and are offered an opportunity to build their own audiences. The “Soul Sounds Open Mic” also provides a space to connect writers who are spoken-word based and writers who are written-word based, within the context of being artists sharing a common literary heritage and practicing their craft in Saint Paul.

The First Thursday workshops before performances will explore specific poetic devices such as alliteration, assonance, metaphor, or specific forms of poetry to investigate when developing a piece. Workshop attendees will be encouraged to share the work created in the workshop at the open mic that follows.

Event Location

The event takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Golden Thyme Coffee Café at 921 Selby Avenue (corner of North Milton Street) in Saint Paul. All ages are welcome, and there is no cover charge. The First Thursday writing workshop is held an hour before the open mic begins, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

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