Mass LEAP's Youth Poetry Festival

Urgent Community Announcement. Due to health and safety concerns from Covid-19, Corona virus. Wicked Loud 2020 is postponed until further notice. 

“You have no idea how changed some of my students are as a result of being in this program. They have found their voices and their confidence. They have been welcomed into a community, which is new for many of them. They have also been made aware of the importance of hearing different voices, of paying attention to the problems others face. It is definitely something I would like other schools in our area to have the opportunity to see and experience. Your work is truly changing the lives of many young people who need it.“

- Shannon Janovitz, English Dept. Burlington High School

#LTABMA took a one year hiatus in 2019, so that Mass LEAP could re-engage with the community, bolster it's operational capacity to sponsor future festivals and guarantee long term sustainability. We appreciate the community's patience as we take steps to re-organize, re-imagine and embark on a festival that can better serve our community. 

From 2012 to 2018, The Louder Than A Bomb Massachusetts Youth Poetry Slam Festival succeeded in bringing young people together across geographic, racial, cultural and socio-economic lines. LTAB (a city wide poetry slam model founded in Chicago in 2001) is a friendly competition that emphasizes self-expression and community via poetry, oral story-telling, and hip-hop spoken word. Over the course of 7 years, Mass LEAP served over 1,000 teens and educators through this festival, featuring poetry slam competitions, writing & performance workshops, panels, special partnership opportunities and professional development for coach-educators. The festival went on hiatus in 2019. Mass LEAP hosted several community conversations to help re-name, re-brand and re-envision how a youth poetry festival can better serve the unique needs of our communities. Wicked Loud Festiva will work do further de-emphasize the competition by offering more generative workshops, non-competitive open mics, themed panels and opening pathways for young people to reflect on how their writing can lead to stronger communities. 

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