Hip Hop Project with Youth in Detention
Day 2 / Apr, 13 @ 2:45 pm
Top Floor : Starlight Room
Hip Hop Poetry Project: a community collaboration between Prison Performing Arts and the Family Court – Juvenile Division. Hip Hop Poetry Project consists of workshops on the 4 elements of Hip Hop; lyric writing, music, dance and design. The workshops respond to several of the challenges facing an at-risk population, particularly the critical need to communicate, have confidence and build literacy skills. Youth receive in-depth commentary from professional teaching artists on everything they participate in during the workshops. The work culminates in a final performance for an audience of family members, community guests and peers. A CD of the youth’s writing is recorded and all of the youth’s written work is published in a printed anthology. This interactive workshop will feature in-depth discussion, audio samples, photographs and video of the project and teaching artists leading participants through sample writing prompts.
Speaker(s):
Valencia Tims
St. Louis, Missouri
Valencia Tims is the former Program Manager for the Corner Pocket Project. Tims is a former board member for Urban Artist Alliance for Child Development, Inc. (UAACD), holding the position of Treasurer. Ms. Tims has been a volunteer for UAACD since October 2002. She is a poet and a writer working on several projects to be published in the near future. She is a singer and songwriter and has performed with the local reggae band Yard Squad since 2008. She completed her Master of Arts degree in English in Spring 2008 from Washington University’s School of Art and Sciences. She aspires to be a professor of English and to experience raising literary awareness for young people in urban areas.
Nathan Graves
St. Louis, Missouri
Nathan Graves holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy Administration. He has worked as Youth Specialist for at-risk teens with the Division of Youth Services at a residential treatment facility where he helped develop outdoor-based programs and served as the Med-Aid. As Program Coordinator at the St. Louis City Juvenile Detention Center for the past 8 years, he is responsible for creating, maintaining, and evaluating the overall program for youth who temporarily reside at the Center, coordinating over 250 personnel in more than 5,000 hours of programs annually.
Nathan is a 2004 graduate of the Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute.
MK Stallings
St. Louis, Missouri
MK Stallings is a writer and educator. He is the founder of Urban Artist Alliance for Child Development, whose mission is to enhance the sociocultural well- being of young people through arts and education. MK currently serves as assistant director of community education and events at the Missouri History Museum. He holds an MA in Sociology and is an adjunct instructor at St. Louis Community College.
Rachel Tibbetts
St. Louis, Missouri
Rachel Tibbetts is the Education Director for Prison Performing Arts. She has worked in arts education since 2000 as an Education Associate and Assistant Director of Education at the Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington; and Arts Partners Program Administrator and Assistant Arts Education Director at Young Audiences of St. Louis. She received her B.A. in Theatre in May 2006 from Oklahoma State University. Rachel graduated from the 2006-2007 Community Arts Training Institute at the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission. Rachel is a member of the Slightly Askew Theatre Ensemble, a St. Louis based professional theatre company.
