WordXWord 2015 Features Week of Words, Workshops
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. - The WordXWord Festival, featuring nationally acclaimed performance poets as well as local favorites, returns to downtown Pittsfield for a seventh season from Aug. 16-22.
The week's schedule includes free workshops, story slams (similar to the popular Moth Radio Hour), a poetry sCrawl (think pub crawl meets poetry) through the Upstreet Cultural District of Downtown Pittsfield, two evenings featuring the work of teen poets, an all-star feature night with five nationally recognized performance poets, and the wildly popular annual WordXWord Poetry Slam finals.
Guest hosts for this year's festival are Robbie Q Telfer and Franny Choi, who will be joined by featured poets Phil Kaye, Fatimah Asghar and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib.
All WordXWord events and workshops are offered free to the public through the support of sponsors and individual contributors, and with the hospitality of partnering venues including Dottie's Coffee Lounge, The Whitney Center for the Arts and lead partner the Berkshire Museum. Greylock Federal Credit Union returns as the lead sponsor for WordXWord 2015. Additional major support is provided by CompuWorks, Housatonic Heritage, Harrison Design Associates, and the City of Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development.
Parents and guardians are advised that some programs may contain mature content not appropriate for younger children. Updates and more information can be found online at http://wXw365.org.
The schedule is as follows:
* Sunday, Aug. 16, 5 p.m., Dottie's Coffee Lounge, 444 North St.: A "Poetry sCrawl," a multi-stop, walking poetry tour, departs from Dottie's, ends at the Berkshire Museum with PechaKucha at 7 p.m. for $5.
* Monday, Aug. 17, 7 p.m., Whitney Center for the Arts, 42 Wendell Ave.: Young+Brave Teen Invitational & Open Mic features spoken word and poetry by young Berkshire voices.
* Tuesday, Aug. 18, 7 p.m., Dottie's Coffee Lounge, 444 North St.: Story Slam Semifinals features storytellers, chosen through a series of pre-festival prelims, competing for a spot in the WXW Story Slam Finals.
* Wednesday, Aug. 19, 7 p.m., Dottie's Coffee Lounge, 444 North St.: Story Slam Semifinals features storytellers, chosen through a series of pre-festival prelims, competing for a spot in the WXW Story Slam Finals.
* Thursday, Aug. 20, 7 p.m., Berkshire Museum, 39 South St.: 413/Youth Speak Invitational Teen Poetry Slam features six of the Berkshires' strongest youth voices competing in the first annual WXW Invitational Poetry Slam, with a special feature by WXW 413/Youth Speak poets.
* Friday, Aug. 21, 6:30 p.m., Berkshire Museum, 39 South St.: Story Slam Finals, featuring sorytellers who have survived the semifinals spinning their four-minute stories, competing for the WXW Story Slam title. Followed by Feature Night with Robbie Q Telfer, Franny Choi, Phil Kaye, Fatimah Asghar and Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib.
Saturday, Aug. 22, 6:30 p.m., Berkshire Museum, 39 South St.: Story Slam Finals, with the four finalists going two rounds and competing for cash prizes and the title of WXW Champion. Followed by the Festival Finale at 8 p.m.
WordXWord Festival online at http://wXw365.org.
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