Festivals have a way of bringing people together. Whether it’s over the mutual enjoyment of an event or the communal thrill of sardining together into an already over-packed auditorium, they tend to bring out the best in people. The Victoria Spoken Word Festival promises to be no different. With talent swept in from far and wide, the weekend should be an exciting chance to see some nationally known artists as well as some new ones.
“The festival is actually really geared towards younger and emerging artists, the idea being that if you’ve been going to an open mic or a slam there’s a very big gap between slamming and touring Canada,” explains festival artistic director Missie Peters. “There’s not a lot of development opportunity in Canada to help you get there, so for me it’s a way to help bridge that gap and show people that they can take their art beyond a coffee shop.”
Peters says that finding the right mix of people for the event was key for her. And by getting newcomers to the spoken scene and some more established folks, she’s managed to find what she feels is a good mix.
“There are a bunch of people who’ve probably only been doing it for two years, or people who came out of the high school program so they’re only 19, but then I also have some people who’ve been doing it for a decade. My main focus is bringing together the right group of people so there is variety between them.”
The festival, now in its fourth year, has shown a lot of growth since its debut. After moving to a bigger venue, the organizers are especially hyped to put on a memorable show. Artists from as far as Quebec and Detroit have been recruited to perform their special brands of entertainment and share their wisdom.
“My set will be a very eclectic mix of stories and poems and music inspired by the festival’s interdisciplinary storytelling theme,” says poet of honour Barbra Adler. “My topics range from cat food to intimidating fathers to moon burials.”
Adler says that when she was starting out, the most important thing she got from attending festivals was realizing that there was a group of people out there who loved the same thing she did.
“I definitely didn’t know that in high school, and it was sometimes even hard to find that at university,” she says. “Connecting with the spoken word community was my first experience of feeling like I had found my people. It definitely made life a lot less lonely, but more than that, it gave me something to aspire to. It’s really easy to think you’ve seen it all until you check something out that totally rewires your expectations of what’s possible.”
It is this kind of connection that Peters has worked so hard to create. In addition to bringing in professional artists to perform, she has collected an ensemble of talented artists who will participate in workshops throughout the weekend and then create three nights worth of shows in just a few hours. The artists will learn different techniques and explore different mediums in order to better understand their own art.
“This year’s theme is ‘inside story’ and it’s about our role as storytellers and poets, kind of playing with archetypes. And there’s going to be puppets, so there’s a lot of fun there with story structure,” says Peters.
The hope is to bring a little bit of excitement to all of those who visit the festival and help them explore new things. For spoken word artist/playwright Cathy Petch, who will be performing as part of the ensemble, the festival is a way to introduce spoken word to those who may have not experienced it before.
“This festival is really important, because it shows people this art that might completely appeal to them. Some people in Victoria might not find a voice until they find spoken word and see a community around it and some acceptance, and they’ll be embraced for finding what’s important to them,” says Petch. “It drums up a scene that can stay all year; we all have our local slams but if there’s a festival it gets more media, it gets more credit. It gives everyone a taste of what spoken word is and it sort of demystifies it and makes it accessible to people.”
Peters feels that the event matters as it provides people an opportunity to push barriers and explore new creative processes.
“The festival is important because it really gives poets a playground to take risks, to challenge themselves, to try new things,” she says. “This is my heart, this is the thing that I’m most proud and passionate about to put on all year because it’s about giving people a safe place to take risks and about showing my community something really cutting edge.”
Victoria Spoken Word Festival
8pm March 4 to 9, $40 pass ($10-12 per event)
victoriaspokenwordfestival.com