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.
Presentation(s):
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.
