Awakening Location
On Friday September 3, Lillian Allen, Tanya Neumeyer, cyngs and a little-bit poet took to the scene of the future Poetry Village location to awaken its spirit for the Junction Arts Festival this upcoming weekend (Sept 10-12).
Like Weeds Ploughing through Concrete, Poetry is Ground-Breaking.
Poetry Grows on Trees
Lillian creates Poetry with water from the wells of Poetry Village.
Our Little-Bit Poet in Action
Tanya Neumeyer Awakens Poetry Village with a Literal "Brick" Bricolage
Revitalizing the Revolution with Resurrected Materials
Believe it or not: This will be a Poetry Village
Believe it or not: This will be a Poetry Village on September 10-12, 2010 at the Junction Arts Festival. The site will soon be cleared and overlaid with the instruments of our creative design. Where the weeds are pulled, the words will sprout. Where the stones are overturned, the stage will be built. Where the concrete is churned, chairs will be set. Where bricks will be broken, booths will be created for community poetic workshops to take place. And the fence will be adorned with the poetic contributions of the poets/artists/neighbours, dissolving the boundary between the private enclosure and the public domain.
The birds on the wire will remain to inspire us in poetic communion with the neighbourhood known as The Junction.
This scene will be invigorated by the word, inspired and informed by community collaboration inhabiting the self-creation of a living, breathing poem: The Poetry Village.
Awakening Community
Passing the Gauntlet (of chalk)
On Saturday August 28, fellow poet Tayna Neumeyer and I went out to The Junction neighbourhood to awaken the community to Poetry Village’s existence. It was a beautiful bright sunny day as Tayna scrawled messages in chalk along the sidewalk perimeter of what soon shall be Poetry Village’s location. Many “Junctionites” approaches us with questions and were intrigued by the possibilities Poetry Village will offer the community to join together in word. Tanya even passed the gauntlet (of chalk) to two would-be poets, who enlivened our messages with creations of their own.
Poet in Action
Smiley Faces: A Community Contribution
The chalk had traveled with Tayna on a bike excursion that had traversed over 2000 km. It was fitting that our messages therefore had “a lot of miles on them” and we used every last whiff of chalk to invigorate the sidewalks with our poetic epistles.
Down to the Nub
Our day ended when the chalk had run out. Tanya and I shook hands, forever sealing ourselves as fellow Chalk Sisters.
Junction Arts Festival Pre-opening Community Party
On Wednesday, August 25, 2010, The Junction Forum for the Arts and Culture hosted a Pre-Opening Community Party for the Junction Arts Festival. In attendance was internationally renowned artist and Poetry Village Curator, Lillian Allen; here seen with Keli Liu, Program Manager of Whatz up with Broccoli, a program for young people using poetry and visual arts for the duration of the Junction Arts Festival.
Community Collaboration
Birds on a wire, what will they inspire?
You are invited to co-create activities that will bring our ‘Poetry Village’ alive.
• Listen to some fabulous readings
• Try your hand at writing a poem or two
• Interact with poets and writers from all poetry and writing styles
• Get poetic advice
• Join a group workshop
• Vote for your favourite Slam Poets and see the champions face off!
• Learn all about Dub Poetry
The Junction Arts Festival takes place between Indian Grove and St John’s Road the weekend of September 11 and 12, 2010.
Showcasing Artists:
Jill Battson
Clifton Joseph
Nalo Hopkinson
Robert Priest
Brenda MacIntyre
Klyde Broox
Leah St
Tanya Neumeyer
Stephen Humphry
Phyllis Walker
Rudy Fearon
Vitra Gosine
Keli Liu
Carrie Young
Michael St George
Memo
Derick Assante
Andrea Thompson
Art Bar Poetry Poets
Dub Poetry Collective
Rudy Fearon
D-Lishus
Neisha New Era
Shanique
Storm
Queen Tyessential
Iyah Fyah
Sankofa
J. Nicole Noel
Honey Novick presents Women’s Voices 5 women
Heart and Art
Poetry can Save the World
Heart and Art, a fluid Live Literature installation from Lillian Allen, is one of the centerpieces of the Junction Arts Festival 2010. Heart and Art will takeover/makeover a vacant lot into a Poetry Village: a living and breathing poem/book. Between daybreak and sunset, poets, writers, readers, lovers of the word and community members will collaboratively program, inhabit, vibrate and empower togetherness within the 2010 Junction Poetry Village. Help us create the world’s first installation of a live Poetry Village with stages, hubs, screenings, readings, performances, workshops and an atmosphere to synergize creativity.
The Poetry Village is a post-postmodern, multi-media, multi-platform, remix art installation that deals with location, process, and interactivity while building community and empowering the word. As part of a multi-media, multi-platform exploration, we will also be creating a “virtual Poetry Village” by providing prompts and writing exercises to inspire ‘virtual villagers on-line’ as well as local villagers to write their own poetry and traverse along the physical geography of the festival to explore.
Poetry Village 
