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​
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​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.

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 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.

​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 (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.

​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!

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.