 What better way to celebrate than to showcase some incredible champions of Te Reo and Te Ao Māori, our 2018 WORD - The Front Line Grand Slam Champs from Ngā Puna o Waiorea. Their passion, and ability to weave Te Reo Māori seamlessly into their poetry is breathtaking, and has seen them stack up incredible scores from the judges across the competition. A huge shout out to Māori Television and Te Kāea for doing this follow up story on this amazing group of poets. Every week is Māori language week for Māori Television, and it is so amazing that they are regularly sharing positive stories about young people on the news. Check out the video below, which was one of the poems the team performed at the Grand Slam, or you can check out the full story here (they come on at 11:10). Kia Kaha Te Reo Māori! Let's make the Māori language strong! Ahakoa iti, ākona, kōrerotia - Learn a little, use a little. You can find out more about Te Wiki o te Reo Maori here! Our biggest event of the year, the WORD - The Front Line Grand Slam is coming up this Saturday 1st September, 7pm at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall. Every year this sold out event brings together poets from across Auckland, as they step up to their own front lines in the biggest youth slam in New Zealand! Tickets are selling fast, so be sure to get yours here before they sell out! We are so excited to announce the incredible people who will be judging at our Grand Slam! Each of these judges brings so much talent and expertise to our judging panel, and we are really fortunate to have them on board with us. These talented poets, artists, educators, social change champions, and community figures will be judging what will no doubt be the fiercest WORD - The Front Line slam to date. This will be no easy feat, so we wish them all the best! Introducing our judges for the WORD - The Front Line Grand Slam:  GRACE TAYLORGrace Teuila Evelyn Taylor is of Samoan, English, Japanese hertiage born and raised Auckland. Mother, Poet, Writer, Performer. Grace has two published works with ala press (Hawaii), Afakasi Speaks (2013), and Full Broken Bloom (2017). Writer of ATC commissioned poetic theatre show My Own Darling (2015 & 2017). She won the CNZ Emerging Pacific Artist Award (2014). Grace has been part of the leadership for the spoken word poetry movement in Aotearoa (co-founder of South Auckland Poets Collective and the first youth poetry slam in Aotearoa RISING VOICES), having worked with young people in youth development and the Arts since 2006. She currently holds the Visiting International Writer in Residence at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (Jan - May 2018).  RICHIE HARDCORERichie Hardcore is a board member at White Ribbon New Zealand, Ministry of Social Development 'It's Not Ok’ Champion, working to end men's violence against women. He is an educator and public speaker, focusing on exploring masculinity and ending rape culture, sexual and family violence. A retired former multiple Muay Thai Champion, with over 25 years in martial arts, Richie is now a trainer, having helped some of New Zealand's most accomplished fighters achieve their goals.’  CARRIE RUDZINSKICarrie Rudzinski ranked 4th in the World at the 2014 Women of the World Poetry Slam and was named Best Female Poet in 2008 at her first national poetry competition. Featured in Bustle, the Huffington Post, and Teen Vogue, she has performed her work over the past 13 years in 6 countries and in almost all 50 of the United States. A published author, her poems have been featured in such collections as University of California Press, Learn Than Burn, We Will Be Shelter, Alight, The Legendary and Muzzle. Carrie is currently a lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Creative Arts teaching performing arts and creative writing and the programme coordinator of The Poetry Project for the Michael King Writer’s Centre in Auckland, New Zealand.  POETIKVentry Parker (POETIK SUSPEKT) born in Henderson, Auckland NZ, grew up for the better half of his life in Apia, Samoa. As the son of a well-known Samoan entertainer, music has always played a major roll in his upbringing. Though it wasn’t until his early teens that he discovered his unwavering passion for hip hop. As one of the founders of the Samoan hip hop scene and a member of the local group Vital Status, Poetik found an outlet from malicious circumstances through music. Raised between the villages of Upolu and the neighborhoods of South Auckland, the young rapper has now begun to establish himself in the hip hop community as an ambassador of his home, his people and his culture. Alongside the immortal production of Ironmanny, Poetik brings forth a new as well as resurrecting an old style of the art. Staying true to his words and the teachings of his elders, he is a voice for all Polynesians.
We have some incredible guest performers lined up for our WORD - The Front Line Grand Slam 2018, this Saturday 1st September, 7pm at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall. These talented people are shaping the arts scene here in New Zealand, and we are really fortunate that they will joining us on stage this weekend. Be sure to get your tickets here so that you can watch some of New Zealand's hottest talent throw down! Introducing our guest performers for 2018:
DIGGY DUPEInner City Diggy has been evolving in the underground with crew Kamo Collective over the years and then swiftly emerged onto the scene in 2017 with his weighty project K.O.T.I.C under Renaissance Music. He has opened up recently for international artist Wiki [USA] and undoubtedly has one of the most memorable '64 Bars' episodes via Redbull Studios. His recent single “The Hill” vividly depicts the life and issues surrounding the current changes within Inner City suburbs such as Grey Lynn and Ponsonby.
MELODOWNZMelodownz’ hip-hop lyricist, Bronson Price, is an urban poet and artist raised in the phone line tangled village of Avondale, Auckland. Melodownz’ sound is shaped by a variety of local producers who honour his smooth melodies. His diverse style travels from hip-hop, reggae, G-funk and soul all accompanied by his punchy lyrics.
POETIKVentry Parker (POETIK SUSPEKT) born 23, March 1988 in Henderson, Auckland NZ, grew up for the better half of his life in Apia, Samoa. As the son of a well-known Samoan entertainer, music has always played a major roll in his upbringing. Though it wasn’t until his early teens that he discovered his unwavering passion for hip hop. As one of the founders of the Samoan hip hop scene and a member of the local group Vital Status, Poetik found an outlet from malicious circumstances through music. Raised between the villages of Upolu and the neighborhoods of South Auckland, the young rapper has now begun to establish himself in the hip hop community as an ambassador of his home, his people and his culture. Alongside the immortal production of Ironmanny, Poetik brings forth a new as well as resurrecting an old style of the art. Staying true to his words and the teachings of his elders, he is a voice for all Polynesians. Check out the video above of Poetik winning Most Promising Artist at this year's Vodafone Music Awards!
TE KAHU ROLLESTONMaori poet, spoken word performer, actor and battle rap artist Te Kahu Rolleston (Ngāi Te Rangi) won the National Poetry Slam Competition in 2014 and has since performed his work nationwide and Internationally, working particularly with youth, schools and community groups.
The WORD - The Front Line Grand Slam 2018 is going down this Saturday 1st September, 7pm at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall. At the start of the year we had over 220 young people from over 44 teams around Auckland turn up to audition. From there we took the top 14 teams through an incredible journey, including slam camp, a series of workshops at the Central City Library, and semi-finals. Now our top 6 teams are preparing to step up to their own front lines and compete in the largest (and probably fiercest) youth slam in New Zealand, the WORD - The Front Line Grand Slam. Every year this competition grows in size and quality, and we are so excited to see what this year's Grand Slam finalists have to offer. Tickets can be purchased here, but be sure to get in quick as tickets are selling out fast! Introducing our final 6 teams: CARMEL COLLEGE
Malia Manavahetau, Carmel Belleza, Audrey Butoyi, Dina Aziz, Janine Ramos (not pictured) NGA PUNA O WAIOREA
Matariki Bennett, Terina Wichman Evans, Manaia Tuwhare-Hoani, Arihia Hall SIR EDMUND HILLARY COLLEGIATE
Linda Tolo, Jayden Tere, Luiz Matavao, Mark Sagala ALFRISTON COLLEGE
Luisa Tauri-Tei, Esther Patu, Hannah Ikiua, Vaine Viviani, Ania Singsam DILWORTH SCHOOL
Phillip Toriente, Jai Selkirk, Nathan Sua, Jayden Osbourne (has left school and is stepping into a coaching support role), Jack Daniel-Keane (not pictured, has since joined the team) RANGITOTO COLLEGE
Tessa Herkt, Kovan Eskerie, Shivani Kershaw, Bella Lane
After an incredibly fierce and successful semi-finals #1 we are now busy preparing for semi-finals #2 - this Saturday 11th August at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna. Make sure you bring all of your friends and family along this Saturday to witness some incredible young poets as they step up to the mic to slay their giants. We expect this heat to be just as fierce and so we have an amazing judging panel to match. We are so excited to have some truly talented poets, artists, educators and community leaders on board with us, and wish them all the best for the tough job they have ahead. Introducing our judges for WORD - The Front Line semi-finals #2:  Marina Alefosio Marina Alefosio is a spoken word artist, rapper, mother and workshop facilitator. As a performance poet, Marina was a member of the critically acclaimed South Auckland Poets Collective and has performed both locally and internationally at venues and events such as the Nuyorican Poets Café (New York), Te Papa Museum (Wellington), the Adelaide Fringe Festival and TEDX Auckland. She has led many performance and poetry workshops for adults and young people.  Bronson Price AKA Melodownz Melodownz’ hip-hop lyricist, Bronson Price, is an urban poet and artist raised in the phone line tangled village of Avondale, Auckland. Melodownz’ sound is shaped by a variety of local producers who honour his smooth melodies. His diverse style travels from hip-hop, reggae, G-funk and soul all accompanied by his punchy lyrics.  Te Kahu Rolleston Maori poet, spoken word performer, actor and battle rap artist Te Kahu Rolleston (Ngāi Te Rangi) won the National Poetry Slam Competition in 2014 and has since performed his work nationwide and Internationally, working particularly with youth, schools and community groups.  Yvonne Thynne
Yvonne Thynne has worked in the publishing industry since 1998 promoting some of New Zealand’s leading poets, authors and celebrities. She has been a promoter of National Poetry Day, a book reviewer for RadioLive and is now the Communications Manager for Domino’s Pizza New Zealand. We are pleased to announce the judges for our WORD - The Front Line Semi-Finals Heat #1 this coming Saturday August 4th at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna. We are so excited to have some incredible poets, artists, and community figures on our judging panel, who are so kindly gifting their time, talents and expertise. This event could not happen without them! Judging a poetry slam is no easy feat, so we wish them all the best! Without further ado, here are 3 of your judges for HEAT #1: SONYA RENEE TAYLOR Sonya Renee Taylor is the Founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology, a digital media and education company committed to radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tool for social justice. Sonya has shared her work as an award-winning Performance Poet, Activist, and educator in numerous countries and on major media outlets around the world,reaching hundreds of thousands of people with her commitment to radical self-love and transformation. Sonya continues to perform, speak and facilitate workshops globally. TE KARERE SCARBOROUGH Two time Poetry Idol winner and judge Te Karere Scarborough (Ngāpuhi) is formerly a member of the South Auckland Poets Collective. He has taught and performed poetry internationally and works for the charity Parenting Place. VENTRY PARKER AKA POETIK SUSPEKT Ventry Parker (POETIK SUSPEKT) born 23, March 1988 in Henderson, Auckland NZ, grew up for the better half of his life in Apia, Samoa. As the son of a well-known Samoan entertainer, music has always played a major roll in his upbringing. Though it wasn’t until his early teens that he discovered his unwavering passion for hip hop. As one of the founders of the Samoan hip hop scene and a member of the local group Vital Status, Poetik found an outlet from malicious circumstances through music. Raised between the villages of Upolu and the neighborhoods of South Auckland, the young rapper has now begun to establish himself in the hip hop community as an ambassador of his home, his people and his culture. Alongside the immortal production of Ironmanny, Poetik brings forth a new as well as resurrecting an old style of the art. Staying true to his words and the teachings of his elders, he is a voice for all Polynesians. JENNIFER McKENZIE My name is Jennifer McKenzie and I am 30 years old and proud member of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board. I was raised on the North Shore where I attended school and have served my community through my roles with North Shore Youth Council, Students Against Driving Drunk and Rotary. I am still heavily involved in Rotary recently completing my term as President of Takapuna Rotary. Youth Projects and empowering young people is my passion and I am proud to be a judge for WORD. I wish all the participants a very sincere congratulations and best wishes, you should be very proud of your achievements!
Friday, November 10th the South Auckland Poets Collective performed proudly alongside some of our finalist teams from WORD - The Front Line. A strong theme of whakapapa, family and identity emerged through the performances. There was a mixture of tried and true pieces and fresh new writing that moved and inspired those in attendance. WORD alumni from Selwyn College and Nga Puna o Waiorea graced the stage with their mana wāhine - confronting the ubiquity and senselessness of cat-callers and opening a confronting but necessary dialogue between Auckland and Tāmaki Makaurau. Sunday, November 12th Action Education facilitated a panel about spoken word poetry as a tool for youth development. The session wove together the history of the South Auckland Poets Collective, the international movement of youth competition in spoken word poetry and the local expression of that competition - WORD - The Front Line.
Ramon kicked things off, sharing his story and the story of the South Auckland Poets Collective, something that started as a youth development programme in 2008 and has grown into a respected group of published and internationally acclaimed artists. Ken shared his journey with spoken word in the United States and the Brave New Voices movement. These stories met when SAPC visited California and witnessed Brave New Voices firsthand. Blown away, the kiwi poets returned home and sharpened their pencils. In 2017, we can proudly say that the youth poetry scene in Tāmaki Makaurau is of an international standard - for the second year in a row we are taking our winning team from WORD to Australia and we are starting to dream about what it might look like to take on Brave New Voices. For those in attendance at the NZPCF, this talent was in evidence as the 2017 WORD - The Front Line champs, Dilworth School, rocked the mic and shared their truth. Shot to Jai, Nathan, Jaiden and Philip for sharing your work in front of some incredible poets and authors. You killed it. As always, big ups to Ainslie Burns, Dilworth Teacher Librarian, for coming out on a Sunday and supporting the team. Last stop before Melbourne. Thanks for having us NZPCF! It was humbling to be invited and so awesome to see our young people take the stage at your prestigious event. As WORD - The Front Line 2017 comes to a close, and the Term 3 holidays approach, we are as busy as ever filling up our calendars for Term 4 and 2018. For those of you who might not know too much about us, we are an organisation that uses creative and interactive means to engage young people so they become invested in their own personal development and education. Our primary (and most popular) form of engagement is facilitating Spoken Word Poetry workshops. The Spoken Word Poetry workshops are designed to give young people the tools and confidence to be able to articulate their own journey, experiences and world view. Check out our website for examples of Spoken Word Poetry, including a revamped copy of our Spoken Word Poetry Best Practice Guidelines here. These workshops also connect to the NZ English Curriculum. We have also developed a Spoken Word Programme in conjunction with the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. This supports students to tell their own stories through poetry, inspired by the visual art they experience at the Auckland Art Gallery. You can find the details to this programme here. These programmes are exciting and dynamic and could be a great option for your year 9 and 10 levels once the seniors have left for the year. If you have a group or class which needs to cover a specific topic we can tailor make a workshop to meet your needs. Topics we have delivered in the past include: anger management, body image, bullying, team building and leadership. We would love to offer our services to you. We can work with a whole year level or with individual classes or smaller groups, we are happy to tailor make the sessions to the specific outcomes you have in mind. We also offer a suite of professional development workshops which cover things like youth development, self-care, boundaries and ethics, group facilitation, spoken word and story telling, team building amongst many other topics. Here are a few quotes from some of the teachers and students we have worked with: In my many dealings with them over the years, the Action Education team have always shown the utmost dedication and professionalism. They are passionate about helping young people to realise their full potential and I have never seen them work with less than absolute drive and integrity to achieve this aim. I unreservedly recommend Action Education to anyone who wants to grow confident leaders from the seeds of students and young people. – Isaac Thomas, English Teacher, McAuley High School Ken and the Action Education team have really opened the doors to poetry for me, they’ve shown me I can express myself through words and given me a positive way to share my thoughts. The workshops with him and others have lead me to find parts of myself and shown me my potential. – Phillip Toriente, year 12. Dilworth School Email us at stevie@actioneducation.co.nz for more info!
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