Rob Schultz
One of the most gratifying things about working at the Mesa Arts Center is the opportunity to partner with local arts organizations, artists, and educators, help present their work, and bring it to the attention of our patrons. These partnerships come in all shapes and sizes, with varying degrees of success, affecting different audiences in different ways. So, since this is an arts education-oriented blog, let’s focus on one of my favorite partnerships, and favorite organizations: Phonetic Spit.
Phonetic Spit was founded by spoken-word artists Tomas Stanton and Myrlin Hepworth, with a mission to “create safe spaces to empower young people to establish their voice and use it to become driven and contributing citizens of the world.” They work throughout metro Phoenix with a number of arts groups and schools, offering teaching residencies and performances for, about, and with teens and young adults, using poetry to develop their oral and cultural literacy. One key method they utilize is open mic and poetry slam events. Happily, through our residency partnership, we were able to host an All City Slam in one of our theaters in mid-November. I got to be a judge.
It was my first time judging a poetry slam. My evening consisted of watching/listening to 20 teens/young adults overcome their shyness, stage fright, and nerves to project themselves into a microphone for three minutes each, bleed their emotions onto the audience, and then walk away from the mic with looks of triumph at having put themselves out there, and relief at hearing their peers respond with enthusiastic support.
Most of their poetry was raw, heartfelt, and unsettling. Of the 20, it seemed that half referenced suicide or self-mutilation, and almost all spoke of the effects of bullying, neglect, hurt, heartbreak, anger, or invisibility. While it’s easiest to downplay their feelings and assume that these kids are simply frustrated teenagers, like all of us were at one time or other, and that they can’t possibly know yet what life is about, taking the easiest course is wrong. Much harder is it to consider that this small representative sampling indicates serious problems in our society, and that they could be merely the tip of an iceberg of anguish that too many kids are suffering through in this, what’s reputed to be the wealthiest and most opportunistic of countries.
But what I’ll also choose to take away is the power of the arts to affect change in people. Art is, at its essence, the opportunity for individuals to express what they must express through their movements, hands, eyes, and voice. That night, art provided a channel for these kids to share their innermost emotions with others, to learn that there are other kids out there just like them who understand, and to avoid the destruction that results from keeping all of the bitterness bottled up inside. That was the most emotionally powerful two hours I’ve spent in a very long time. Thank you, Phonetic Spit.
