Speak Up: Creative Writing + Performance (Spring 2023)

Saturdays, February 18 — April 15, 2023, from 3:00 p.m.—4:00 p.m. EST

Join us online for Speak Up, a teen creative writing program supporting the artistic and professional growth of teens.

In this FREE virtual creative writing workshop mini-series, teens will partner with experienced teaching artists to empower the creative writing process, from drafting to performance to publishing, to boost literacy and empower youth in Miami through community-based writing activities.

The program is open to all teens (ages 13-19) and is as free of charge as it is free of homework. No previous experience necessary!

• February 25, Gabriel Ramirez:
  Gabriel Ramirez is a Queer Afro-Latinx poet, activist, and teaching artist. Gabriel has received fellowships from The Conversation Literary Arts Festival, Palm Beach Poetry Festival, The Watering Hole, CantoMundo and Callaloo. Gabriel has performed on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, United Nations, Lincoln Center, Apollo Theatre and other venues & universities around the nation. Gabriel was featured in Huffington Post, VIBE Magazine, Blavity, Upworthy, The Flama, and Remezcla. You can find his work in various spaces, including Youtube, and in publications like The Volta, Winter Tangerine, WUSGOOD, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, VINYL, and in ¡MANTECA!: an Anthology of Afro-Latino Poetry (Arte Público Press 2017) Bettering American Poetry Anthology (Bettering Books 2017) What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (Northwestern University Press 2019) The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT (Haymarket Press 2020)

  Gabriel’s electrifying writing and performance are catalysts towards healing and brings awareness to mental health, Afro-Latinidad, the African Diaspora, self love, self care, masculinity, and social change. Understanding how poetry changed his life as a teenager, Gabriel is dedicated to working with young people and poets ranging from middle schoolers to adults inspiring them to cultivate their voices as writers and performers via coaching, workshops and performances. Gabriel has also received admiration from institutions of higher education and the underserved communities he works in.