There is power in your words. There is power in your voice.
Mission
IC Speaks seeks to develop and sustain an inclusive, thriving spoken-word poetry community in Iowa City that empowers youth from all backgrounds to speak their truths.
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Join Us
If you’re a teen interested in joining Spoken Word Club or any of IC Speaks’ other programs, please contact Caleb at ic.speaks.now@gmail.com. We’d love to have you!
Or maybe you're an adult who'd like to help by volunteering with us? Sign Up Here!
Upcoming Events
Our Story
IC Speaks began in 2019 when Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey decided his weekly spoken word club at West High, originally in partnership with the Iowa Youth Writing Project, should expand to the whole district. The workshops served as a place for young writers to be their true selves and share their story—it was evident that all Iowa City youth deserved this opportunity.
With weekly workshops at Tate High, City High, Liberty High, and West High, this new program was quickly growing & thriving until… the pandemic.
When faced with this new challenge, the young writers requested that workshops continue virtually. The usual school-specific workshops combined into one weekly Zoom for all students to join. Some even said, “this is the one Zoom I look forward to.”
As the world opened up, so did IC Speaks. While making the spoken word club series hybrid, other in-person series were added to create space for every kind of young poet.
For performance poets, the High School Open Mic offers the historic Englert Theatre stage as a safe place to practice. For the casual writer looking for community, the Porchlight Hangouts are perfect. For page poets that have dreams of publication, there is a contest that selects a young writer’s piece to print in the Little Village Mag.
LOOKING BACK AT BLACK IOWANS
Looking Back at Black Iowans, a pioneering workshop series, revolutionizes the way students engage with literature and understand the heritage of their state. With poetry experiencing a renaissance in recent years, Looking Back at Black Iowans seeks to harness this momentum by providing a platform for young poets to explore their creativity, develop their writing skills, and connect with the rich tapestry of Iowa's Black history. The series is designed to inspire, educate, and empower students, intertwining the exploration of literature with the exploration of their state's diverse cultural heritage.
Topics explored include the racially-integrated town of Buxton, scientist George Washington Carver, blues musician Kevin Burt, community builder Helen Lemme, and the Des Moines Black Panther Party.
With the help of Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey and other teaching artists, this series takes place in Language Arts classrooms during the school day throughout the Iowa City Community School District.
Brave New Voices
The largest youth poetry competition in the world, Brave New Voices, invites teams of young poets from across the globe to gather for a poetry slam. Every year IC Speaks assembles a slam team to compete at BNV. With 4-6 Iowa City writers ranging from 13 to 19 years old, the team crafts individual & group pieces, fundraises, then travels to the U.S. city BNV chooses (2024-Washington DC).
Caleb Rainey - DIRECTOR
Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey is an author, performer, and producer. His debut book, Look, Black Boy, was awarded first prize in the North Street Book Prize, and his second book, Heart Notes was published in 2019. He released two spoken word albums and in 2023, as a part of the Brucemore Artisan in Studio program, Caleb produced his first short film, Willing to Grow. He is the winner of several slams across the United States, and competed in the 2023 UNESCO Slam-0-Vision global poetry slam where he ranked 7th worldwide. He has shared the stage with spoken word titans such as Siaara Freeman, Denice Frohman, Javon Johnson, Ebony Stewart, Anthony McPherson, Danez Smith and Patricia Smith, and videos of his performances can be found on his YouTube channel, Write About Now, and Button Poetry.
Hannah/Charlie Hall - Middle School Coordinator
Hannah/Charlie Hall (he/she/they) is an 18-year-old self-proclaimed: storyteller, poet, and writer. Hailing from Iowa City, Iowa, they are focused on showing the real and often ugly stories of mental illness, finding your identity as genderqueer, and learning to love a hard-to-love world. Hannah/Charlie is an Iowa City and Ames poetry slam winner, Between The Lines writing program graduate, and competed in Iowas’ first and second state youth poetry slam in Des Moines. Hannah/Charlie Hall has been featured on Iowa Public Radio and placed third in the 2022 IC Speaks Page Poetry Contest. She/he was also Published in the 2022 October issue of “The Real MAINstream.”
She/he was an opening performer for Film Scene’s 2022 film fest “Refocus” and competed in the UNESCO City of Literature global slam; Hannah/Charlie was also an opening performer for Ebony Stewart and Patrica Smith, two legends in the writing world.
Ruth Thomas - Youth coordinator
Ruth Thomas (she/her) has been a member of IC Speaks since 2019, where she’s led and participated in workshops, competed on the State Slam team at iLUV Poetry Festival, and has unofficially been dubbed “The Poetry Gremlin.” She has been published in assorted literary magazines such as Ice Lolly Review, Aster Lit, and most recently The Real Mainstream. Outside of writing, she loves taking care of her many plants, baking, and crocheting when she finds the time to sit down and binge a series.
Jen Tran
Jen Tran (she/her) is a poet who is a part of IC Speaks. She has been writing poetry since her freshman year and has had the pleasure of meeting some amazing poets from around the world through her work in IC Speaks. She adores spreading her love of poetry to everyone she meets and is happy to have been given the opportunity to formally lend a hand. Jen is also known for her crazy energy, which her fellow poets have come to call, "Jenergy." Due to this, Jen would like for future friends to be hyper-aware for when her tornado-like personality comes to greet them next.
Sponsors
