The louderARTS Project Fellowship

Every other year, the louderARTS Project will offer writing development fellowships to the four top scoring poets in our poetry slam finals. This "team" will be fellowshipped to summer writing programs, as well as participate in the regional slam competitions. Our hope is that by giving four writers from our community the opportunity every other year to improve their knowledge and craft, that we will continuous improve the quality and artistic knowledge of our artist base.  This in turn will help us build a stronger base of writers who will compete (or not) and then go out into the larger artistic world (National Poetry Slam included) and have a more positive impact in those spheres.

How the slam season will work

As usual, there will be two slams a month. As in the past, the first eight people to sign up get to compete and there will be three rounds of poetry. After the first round, five are carried to the second and four are carried to the third. Poems must be under 3 minutes and 10 seconds and the third round poem cannot be repeated again in the slam until the semi-finals.

Many of the slams will be specifically themed. These themes will be announced and posted on the web site (www.louderARTS.com) and available by e-mailing the curators at   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  It might be a night of one-minute or less poems. It might be a night of villanelles and pantoum. It might be a night of slamming Aime Cesaire's poems or Sharon Olds' poems or the like. Suggestions for themes are always welcome.

It is not required that you read a poem in the theme of the night. However, poets who do bring work related to the theme will receive 2 extra points in which the relevant work is performed. We don't want to discourage poets from coming to our slam to try out new work, but we want to give a positive incentive for people to take up our writing challenges.

3-2-1 and 1-2-3 slams have specific time limits that must be observed by all competators. There are no extra points given for observing the time limits and point will be deducted for going over time.

To qualify for the semi-finals, one must have participated in at least three preliminary slams, at least ONE of which must have been a theme slam, which is to say, if you've done five slams and they're all only traditional/regulation slams, then you will NOT have qualified.  The semi-finals will comprise four rounds, one of which will be a “form” round and one of which will be a one or two minute round.  As in the past, points are gained towards the semi-finals by making it into the third round in preliminary bouts and coming in 1st (3 points), 2nd (2 points) or 3rd (1 point).

What summer writing programs qualify for the fellowship?

This is entirely up to you. There is a plethora of programs out there, from independent study retreats like Hedgebrook, to Cave Canem, to Breadloaf, to the 92nd Street Y.  We recommend that poets begin research immediately into programs, and apply for them at the earliest point their guidelines allow.  This means that if you are accepted, you know exactly what you're playing for as the slam season progresses. You're playing to have the costs of your summer education defrayed, or taken care of altogether, depending on what the dollar value of the finals prize turns out to be.

What if I am not accepted by any of my preferred summer programs, but make the “team?”

You can then design a course of study for the summer that will be fully or partially underwritten by your winnings.  It will have to be approved by the curators, but might involve personal instruction from a poet of your choosing, purchase and study of a selection of books.

What if I am accepted by one of my preferred summer programs, but DON'T make the team?

Then you have the chance to go learn anyway. But if you can't afford it, many of these retreats or workshops will allow you to defer acceptance for a year, and many offer scholarships.

What do I do with my new-found poetic knowledge?

Team members will:

• feature at louderARTS: the reading series, as a group or individually
• share learnings from the fellowship via a workshop (intensive or multi-week)
• compete in the regional poetry slam competitions

We would also hope that you take your new shiny poems and bring them back to our slam for the next year in which we actually send a team to the National Poetry Slam.

Can I slam for the summer writing program prize and still compete for a team actually going to the National Poetry Slam?

Yes! You of course will have to figure out whether or not the summer writing program you might win will conflict with your rehearsal schedule for that team, but competing in the louderARTS finals and making our “team” on Fellowship years will not disqualify you from participating in another venue’s National Poetry Slam team.

Slammaster: Emily Kagan
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Artistic Director: Roger Bonair-Agard
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