Independent Coast Observer
County Slam 2004

Countywide Poetry Slam to host the Oakland East Bay Symphony
(published in the ICO, 3/25/05)

The Oakland East Bay Symphony (OBES)recently accepted a proposal written by local poet Blake More to include Mendocino County Youth Poets in the second phase of their Words & Music Project.

The Words & Music Project is a multi-year commissioning venture of the Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS) in partnership with The James Irvine Foundation. The Words & Music Project will result in several exciting new works for symphony orchestra that will be premiered in Oakland in the Symphony's upcoming seasons. In its first phase, OEBS brought selected writers and composers together for a public symposium and a subsequent private collaborations workshop designed to spark new partnerships. This resulted in a remarkable 18 team-proposals for new works, six of which were chosen to go forward to a final round: public readings of "works-in-progress" by the artist-teams. (Point Arena Poet Blake More and Berkeley Composer Ernie Mansfield were one of the six teams that advanced to the finals). San Francisco Poet Laureate Devorah Major and SF Composer Guillermo Galindo were the team awarded a full commission from this process.

In the next phase of The Words & Music Project, OEBS is soliciting works by young writers. Several of the chosen texts will be incorporated in a symphonic concert piece to be performed by the orchestra in the 2004-05 season. OEBS is working in partnership with California Poets in the Schools (CPITS) to celebrate student expression throughout the state and identify 4-8 student works that will be incorporated into the piece. Founded in 1964, CPITS is an arts education program that brings California poets into K-12 grade classrooms statewide.

As the Mendocino County Area Coordinator for CPITS, More was asked to submit a proposal and was one of seven, youth oriented projects accepted by the Oakland East Bay Symphony. This means that the OBES scouting team will be at the Mendocino County Poetry Slam on April 2nd , which takes place at 4:30pm at the at the Mathison Performing Arts Center.