Spoken word artist Amerah Saleh presented the last season of Beatfreeks event ‘Level UP’ (Photograph: Beatfreeks)
A series of spoken word and poetry events, put together by young people for young people, are to begin their third season of performance workshops in Birmingham this month.
Returning for the third season, Level UP is an open mic spoken word poetry showcase organised by the Beatfreeks, a leading social enterprise engaging young people in arts, media, training, enterprise and leadership opportunities.
Founded in February 2013 by young entrepeneur Anisa Haghdadi, the Birmingham-centric collaborative group brings together the talents of creative artists from all multimedia fields and music genres.
Level UP is organised by Birmingham creative collaborative organisation Beatfreeks (Photograph: Beatfreeks)
The Level UP event aims to bring together new and established artists to inspire young people (Photograph: Beatfreeks)
Level UP aims to bring together an already established artist and a young featured artist to perform at the Birmingham REP Theatre, along with a selection of open mic slots. The presentation is curated by young people with the goal of inspiring fellow youngsters with an avid interest in poetry and spoken word performances.
The Level UP showcase has an open mic opportunity alongside performances (Photograph: Beatfreeks)
Joe Cook, a young musician and spoken word artist from Birmingham, will be hosting and producing the forthcoming series.
“Birmingham is the youngest city in Europe. The spoken word scene in Birmingham is constantly on the rise but mainly has its home within the city’s coffee shops. Level UP enables aspiring artists to perform alongside some of the best within the UK, enabling young creatives to have a bigger platform to express and showcase their work,” Cook explains.
Level UP is held at the Birmingham REP, and supported by Birmingham City Council (Photograph: Beatfreeks)
Performers and creatives gather for a selfie at the Level UP event earlier this year (Photograph: Beatfreeks)
Along with themain event, organisers are also running a series of satellite events in four different areas across the city. These include Sutton, Yardley, Weoley Castle and Winson Green, in the hope of engaging young people who live further away from central Birmingham. The satellite events will be managed by emerging workshop facilitators Aliyah Holder and Aliyah Denton.
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The Level UP events will run between 7pm-9pm, at The Door in the Birmingham REP Theatre, on the following dates:
* 28th November, 2014
* 19th December, 2014
* 23rd January, 2015
* 27th February, 2015
* 27th March, 2015
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The accompanying satellite workshops will run between 5pm-7pm, on the following dates:
* 17th December – Ladywood
* 22nd January – Sutton Coldfield
* 19th February – Yardley
* 16th March – Weoley Castle
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Promotional artwork for season 3 of Level UP from Beatfreeks
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These events are produced by local collaborative force Beatfreeks, in partnership with Apples & Snakes and supported by The REP and Birmingham City Council.
