Basseterre, St. Kitts, Wednesday 21st October, 2015 - In 2009, the now popular and well-loved spoken word event, Island Xpressions was introduced to the Federation of St. Kitts & Nevis, by youth activist, Mr. Samal Duggins. Island Xpressions provided a forum for lovers of the arts to exhibit their talents to other arts enthusiasts. Though its main focus was spoken word and poetry at its inception, Island Xpressions grew to include all other art forms including, dance, song and visual. It became evident during each staging of this event that many of the young people were struggling with deep internal issues and Duggins saw the need to give these young people a wider stage to express themselves through the liberating art form of spoken word.
The following year, 2010, Project P.O.E.T.R.Y was born. The acronym P.O.E.T.R.Y gives deep meaning to what this initiative seeks to do – Putting Our Energies Toward Refocusing Youth. The Project P.O.E.T.R.Y High School Competition encourages high school students to use and elevate written and spoken word poetry as preferred forms of expression and emotional outlets.
Jonelle Irish, past winner describes Project P.O.E.T.R.Y as a “door into another realm of self-introspection and development.” The 2015 edition of the competition was launched last month, September and will see students from high schools across St. Kitts and Nevis perform two pieces each before a live audience, one on this year’s theme, “Re-imagining & Re-shaping Our Education System,” and the other on a topic of their choice. The final show will take place on November 28th, 2015, at a venue to be later announced.
As part of its commitment to social outreach, members of the team at the Project P.O.E.T.R.Y initiative recently visited a few of the high schools in St. Kitts to have heart-to-heart, uncensored conversations with some of the students. The main purpose of this activity was to find out some of the roadblocks faced by these students in the current education system. The members of Project P.O.E.T.R.Y, who are youth themselves, understand the importance of creating an environment free of judgment when dealing with personal and sensitive issues. It is intention of the Project P.O.E.T.R.Y team to be the voice of these students in advocating for changes within the education system that will allow them to reach their full potential.
In the coming weeks, the Project P.O.E.T.R.Y team will continue its outreach in the communities of both St. Kitts & Nevis. The Project P.O.E.T.R.Y initiative will continue to meet its mean objective of youth empowerment through various avenues such as the arts, education and sports, to name a few. The month of November will see the rebirth of the Island Xpressions spoken word event then the grand finals of The Project P.O.E.T.R.Y High School Competition.
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