For a sense of how Spoken Word performances have changed since Allen Ginsberg read “Howl” in a North Beach café, turn up your computer’s speakers and visit Youth Speaks online. Founded in 1996, the San Francisco-based Youth Speaks counters illiteracy and alienation with opportunities for young people to participate in local and national youth poetry slams, festivals, reading series, and other events. The Youth Speaks staff works with 45,000 teens each year in the Bay Area, offering an array of literary arts education programs. It also has created partner programs in thirty-six cities across the United States.
http://www.youthspeaks.org/
