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!

Check out our awesome DJ and guest performers for our WORD - The Front Line 2017 Grand Slam this Saturday 9th September at 7pm at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall! 

We are so lucky to have a team of such awesome artists supporting our event. Make sure you get along to the Grand Slam to see them perform! Tickets can be purchased here.

BRONSON PRICE AKA MELODOWNZ
Melodownz, hip hop lyricist (Bronson Price), who is also one of our amazing judges for the Grand Slam, is a half cast’ Polynesian urban poet and artist raised in the phone line tangled urban village of Avondale. Still pondering over a beer at the bar, headphones on the bus, or bouncing at the back of the venue at his show, you will wonder how you are still listening to the same performer as he traverses backdrops of boom bap, g funk, reggae, soul and hip hop with ease, dropping nuggets of wisdom, synonyms and analytical versification. Just when you are lulled into the storyline of a Polynesian young man getting his come up in an suburban street, Melodownz will flip the script, and you will find yourself listening to a spoken word piece, or a funk master bringing you more flavour then yum yum noodles. His sound is shaped by a variety of handpicked local producers, complimenting Melodownz smooth melodies and punchy lyrics.  After listening, the feeling you get is quite similar to the feeling you have after a Sunday Roast at mums house….. Satisfied. Check out his track "The Anthem" from his latest EP, featuring Bailey Wiley!
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After months of preparation we are only days out from our WORD - The Front Line 2017 Grand Slam! Join us this Saturday 9th September at 7pm at the Concert Chamber, Auckland Town Hall for a poetry slam of EPIC proportions! Tickets can be purchased here.

Here are our judges for the Grand Slam. They are an incredible group of poets, mentors, educators, and artists.

CARRIE RUDZINSKI
Carrie 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 12 years in 5 countries and in almost all 50 of the United States. A published author, Carrie is currently a lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Creative Arts teaching performing arts and creative writing. 
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DANIELLE FENNESSY
​Dani was born and raised in South Auckland with her mum and younger sister. She is Pakeha, Rarotongan, Maori and Irish (fruit salad). Her hobbies include hiking, eating and travelling. If she had to take 3 things to a deserted island they would be her girlfriend, a shaver and Nutella. She always knew she wanted to do something different and wanted to make a difference. Through high school she had no idea what she wanted to do (who does, right?) until her drama teacher suggested acting or radio. She explored different things until she stumbled across the New Zealand Radio Training School. From there, she found her love for radio and literally did everything she could until she reached her goal. Late nights, early mornings, rainy days, she sacrificed things all her other friends were enjoying but hey, nothing worth it comes easy in life! For the past 8 months she has been one half of the Mai Home Run 3-7pm on Mai FM - the number 1 Hip Hop & RnB station in NZ – where she gets to do what she loves everyday. She’s very grateful :) The quote she lives by is - 'Trust in the universe - you are where you need to'

BRONSON PRICE AKA MELOWDOWNZ
Melodownz hip hop lyricist (Bronson Price), is a half cast’ Polynesian urban poet and artist raised in the phone line tangled urban village of Avondale, Auckland, New Zealand.
Still pondering over a beer at the bar, headphones on the bus, or bouncing at the back of the venue at his show, you will wonder how you are still listening to the same performer as he traverses backdrops of boom bap, g funk, reggae, soul and hip hop with ease, dropping nuggets of wisdom, synonyms and analytical versification.
Just when you are lulled into the storyline of a Polynesian young man getting his come up in an suburban street, Melodownz will flip the script, and you will find yourself listening to a spoken word piece, or a funk master bringing you more flavour then yum yum noodles.
His sound is shaped by a variety of handpicked local producers, complimenting Melodownz smooth melodies and punchy lyrics.  After listening, the feeling you get is quite similar to the feeling you have after a Sunday Roast at mums house….. Satisfied.

DIETRICH SOAKAI
Dietrich has worked as a Youth Development worker for over 10 years, He found his voice through Spoken Word Poetry back in 2010, later joined SAPC and got to tour and perform in Australia, America and in different parts of the Pacific. He is passionate about hearing peoples authentic voice and stories. He is also newly married and stoked to have Hanna as a wife.

Here they are, your judges for Word - The Front Line Semi-Finals Heat # 2, an amazing mix of poets, educators and social change advocates. 

We will see you at 1pm on Saturday, August 12 at Auckland Town Hall. 

Youth work is a passion that began for Exile when he was a DJ tutor volunteering his time. This shifted into a full time position as a Youth Transition Worker for two years, before he stopped to focus on his music career. Exile is a certified Audio Engineer having completed a Diploma in Audio Engineering. His expertise lies in his ability to fuse both his passions through utilizing music and technology, and he uses that as a foundation for his approach to youth development.

Exile will be spinning beats between poets and to warm up our crowd for Word - The Front Line Semi-Finals Heat 1 this weekend at the Bruce Mason Theatre. 

We are pleased to announce our judges for Word - The Front Line Semi-Finals Heat One this coming Saturday August 5th at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna. 

Without the contributions of these generous humans, our event would simply not be possible. Thank you so much for honouring our poets with your time, expertise and feedback. We know the judging job isn't easy, but we couldn't be more stoked with our line up. 

For this heat we have a talented mix of poets, writers, arts and communications professionals. Without further ado, here are your judges for HEAT ONE: 

Last week and this week Ramon and Ken have been busy running some awesome spoken word workshops with the year 9s and 10s at Wesley College. We love working with the Wesley students! Their passion, enthusiasm and creativity makes the drive totally worth it. We were lucky enough to work with the year 9s last year who are now year 10s, so we are stoked to catch up with those students again this year to continue working on their poetry and development.
This year is also the first year that Wesley College has participated in Word - The Front Line, and their team is bomb! Definitely a school to keep your eye on!

Earlier this year Action Education ran leadership development and team building workshops with a group of students from St Cuthberts College. They then helped us to facilitate a day of poetry at Mangere Bridge School with the year 5 and 6 classes. Some of the girls from St Cuths attended Mangere Bridge School when they were younger, and it was great to see them come back as leaders and giving back to their community. Action Education received an amazing powhiri from the students, and together with the leadership group from St Cuths we facilitated an awesome day with 120 students who turned out to be very talented poets.