Monday night Open Mic featuring "FreeQuency" FreeQuency aka FreeQ Tha Mighty
Hosted by: Charity Joyce Blackwell
Spotlight Feature: Cierra Lione
Its gunna be Lit (dot) Com!
A Busboys and Poetry Event For two hours audiences can expect a diverse chorus of voices and a vast array of professional spoken word performers, open mic rookies, musicianst. A space for not just entertainment, but education, community and artistic development in a warm atmosphere!
Tickets for the event go on sale May 1s...
Monday night Open Mic featuring "FreeQuency" FreeQuency aka FreeQ Tha Mighty
Hosted by: Charity Joyce Blackwell
Spotlight Feature: Cierra Lione
Its gunna be Lit (dot) Com!
A Busboys and Poetry Event For two hours audiences can expect a diverse chorus of voices and a vast array of professional spoken word performers, open mic rookies, musicianst. A space for not just entertainment, but education, community and artistic development in a warm atmosphere!
Tickets for the event go on sale May 1st 12:00 am- 6:00 pm.
GET YOUR TICKETS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE DAY OF. We hate to see sad faces turned away at sold out events. :(
If you would like to perform, please arrive by 8:30!
**Tickets purchased in store are cash ONLY - $5
About the Feature:
Mwende "FreeQuency" Katwiwa is a Kenyan born, New Orleans based spoken word artist, organizer and youth worker. Known for her social justice work and poetry, FreeQuency has been described as 'challenging', 'dynamic', and it has been said on numerous occasions that "the room isn't the same after hearing FreeQuency spit".
A Queer, Black Immigrant Womyn poet, FreeQuency has been featured on Upworthy, the New York Times, Teen Vogue, OkayAfrica, the Huffington Post, Everyday Feminism, BUST Magazine, Melissa Harris-Perry's Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race and Politics in the South, the National Journal, All Def Poetry, Button Poetry, BalconyTV and other sources for her work on and off the stage. A TEDx speaker, she has been invited to to speak/perform at various conferences, community centers and colleges/universities across the country. In 2013, FreeQuency was voted the RAW New Orleans Performing Artist of the Year and the WhoDat Poets Rookie of the Year. A 2014, 2015 & 2016 member of Team Slam New Orleans (ranked 3rd nationally in 2014), FreeQuency placed 5th at the 2014 Texas Grand Slam Poetry Festival, 3rd at the 2014 SouthWest ShootOut Individual Competition and 10th overall at the 2015 Women of the World Poetry Slam. Most recently, FreeQuency 3rd & 8th at the 2015 & 2016 Individual World Poetry Slam
In addition to writing and performing poetry, FreeQuency has published articles in The Grio, For Harriet, the Feminist Majority Foundation's Campus Leadership Network and is currently a founding member of the New Orleans chapter of the Black Youth Project 100 (the first BYP100 Southern Chapter), a founding committee member and host of the New Orleans Youth Open Mic (NOYOM), a board member for Patois: The New Orleans' International Human Rights Film Festival, a blogger with the AfroFashion and Culture Blog Noirlinians and a member of Wildseeds: The New Orleans Octavia Butler Emergent Strategy Collective. She currently works at Women With A Vision, a social justice non-profit whose major focus areas include Reproductive Justice outreach, HIV+ Women's Advocacy, Sex Worker Rights and Drug Policy Reform.
About the Host:
Born in Arizona and raised in South Carolina, Charity Blackwell is a spoken word artist who is quickly making a name for herself in the DMV. Charity started writing poetry in high school but recently began performing her work in 2015. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at Trinity University, Charity cultivated, hosted, and performed at numerous spoken-word events for her school. She currently works for the Department of Commerce and recently completed her Master’s degree at Trinity in Communications with a concentration in Leadership. She hosted the 2013, 2014, and 2015 DC SCORES Poetry SLAMS! Now a two-time host of the National SLAM! in New York City. Charity is passionate about poetry, soccer, and youth development, and she remains involved in the D.C. spoken-word scene while she completes her first book of poems.