¡DUENDE! Long Beach was founded in August 2011 by a group of woman artists, poets, performers, and musicians. We are a grassroots community arts organization providing creative programming, mentoring, and performance opportunities for youth in the Long Beach area. Although our approaches to creating are as diverse as our backgrounds, it is the spirit and passion behind our art that unites. Simply, we want to empower and enable the youth in our beloved community with the creative tools they need to become unstoppable leaders and agents for change.

In July 2012, we hope to send a group of talented, committed youth to the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival in the San Francisco Bay Area, the largest ongoing spoken word event in the world. BNV brings together young artists, activists, educators, poets, and emerging leaders to participate in a celebration and demonstration of free speech, artistic empowerment, and youth voice.

Every year, hundreds of youth compete on slam teams from the U.S. and Europe at BNV. At the center of the festival is the International Youth Poetry Slam. A poetry slam is a high-energy competition where spoken word poets share meaningful original works that are then "judged" by members of the audience.

However, Brave New Voices also offers numerous community forums, workshops, conferences, and performance events that encourage youth, artists, educators, activists, and community leaders to be advocates and agents for positive change on a local and global scale.

Join us as we present our Youth Poetry Slam Team at a fundraiser at the Ugly Mug Cafe in Downtown Orange on April 11th.