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IC Speaks Has a New Home!
IC Speaks has graduated! After five busy and productive years under the sponsorship of Iowa City Poetry, IC Speaks has graduated to become its own separate non-profit! That means you can find out about all the important work they do at their new website here.
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.
On our new website!
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.
OUR NEW HOME
After five years growing and learning with the support of Iowa City Poetry, IC Speaks has launched as an indepndent non-profit. Please see our current website for current events and more information!