We Love This Advocacy Campaign from Americans for the Arts

SFJB joins Blog-o-Sphere with a call for Poets!

Well, we finally got our act together and started an official SFJB blog spot. The SFJB staff is looking forward to posting information about upcoming events and new happenings with the organization as well as other arts and music related topics.

The latest news is that we are now looking for poets interested in the open reading and slam competition that will take place in the Poetry Tent JazzFest 2008 - July 19 at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls, SD.

A $200 cash prize will be awarded to the winner of the slam, and a $50 cash prize will be awarded to the runner-up.

Over the past four years, we've found that poetry and jazz music go hand-in-hand. The poetry tent has been a growing area of the music festival and we look forward to new talent and returning favorites each year.

The schedule for the 2008 JazzFest Poetry Tent is as follows:

2pm - Open Reading (please register to be placed on the list)
4pm - Featured Readers including SD Poet Laureate David Allan Evans
6pm - Poetry Slam Competition
7:30pm - Truth & Adapt (hip-hop performance)

As an added bonus this year, we are bringing live music back to the tent, with the Sioux Falls hip-hop act Truth & Adapt. Truth, a.k.a. Ken McFarland, was the 2007 JazzFest Poetry Slam winner and we are excited to feature his band this year.

Poets interested in registering for either the open reading or slam competition can contact Katrina at the SFJB office - 605-335-6101, or katrina@sfjb.org. The registration deadline is July 10.