The 2014 Albany Word Fest is almost over. We have had a great week of poetry, music, and spoken word so far, but it is not over yet – we have two more events scheduled!
Tonight we are hosting the 13th annual Word Fest Open Mic at the UAG Gallery (247 Lark Street, Albany). So far over 50 poets have signed up to take part in one of the biggest poetry open mics in the area. Poets from all over the region will be coming together to celebrate National Poetry Month and the art of spoken word that is alive and well right here in upstate New York. Some of the spoken word artists scheduled to perform include Nancy Klepsch, Alan Catlin, Charles Straney, Alan Casline, Shaun Baxter, Howard J Kogan, Don Levy, Carol H. Jewell, Joe Krausman, Cecele Kraus, Cheryl A. Rice, Tim Verhaegen, L-Majesty, Glenn Werner, Karin Maag-Tanchak, Christoph Hanna, Harvey Havel, Julie Lomoe, Mojavi, Kat SoPoetic, James Shultis, Mike Jurkovic, Tess Lecuyer, Adam Tedesco, R.M. Engelhardt, Carolee Bennett, Matt Galletta, Bob Sharkey, Jill Crammond, Steven Minchin, Shannon Shoemaker, Chad Lowther, Brian Dorn, Therese Broderick, Frank Robinson, and Sylvia Barnard.
For a full list of poets, go to http://albanywordfest.com/openmic. If you want to take part, there will be a limited opportunity to sign up at the UAG.
Then, tomorrow night, we head over to The Linda for the Word Fest Invitational Slam. Six teams from NY and NJ will be competing for prizes and bragging rights as we prepare for the National Poetry Slam in Oakland in August. Our very own Nitty Gritty Slam (Albany, NY) will be joined by Underground Poetry Spot (Syracuse, NY), Suffern Slam (Suffern, NY), Jersey City Slam (Jersey City, NJ), Pure Ink Slam (Buffalo, NY), and the Roc Bottom Slam Team (Rochester, NY) on one stage to close out the Word Fest.
Admission for this event at The Linda is $10.00 and available now at thelinda.org.
Thank you to everyone who has made this year’s Word Fest such a great success. We could not have done it without you!
