The Dayton Human Relations Council is partnering with the Victoria Theatre Association to empower the community through Dayton’s 2015 Speak Week.
Speak Week is a spoken word competition for high school students in the area whose slogan is “Speak. Be heard. Be considered.”
The purpose of the event is to use hip-hop to get the community, especially youth, engaged and involved in speaking out against gun violence and to strengthen relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
“The HRC promotes peace, goodwill, harmony and works to ensure equal treatment and opportunity for all,” is the stated mission of the Dayton Human Relations Council.
The Council was established in May of 1962. With a full-time staff and a ten-member Board of Directors, the Dayton Human Relations Council intends to enforce civil rights and ensure equality of treatment and opportunity to everyone in Dayton. The Council provides business and technical assistance to small and disadvantaged businesses that are sometimes minority-owned or woman-owned, administer community relations, and assist in reducing inter-group tensions.
Other partners of Speak Week include the University of Dayton ArtStreet, Dayton Public Schools, the Dayton Community Police Council, and the Center for the Study of African American Art and Culture, which is also known as SHANGO, and the Community Initiative to Reduce Gun Violence (CIRGV).
The events begin on Monday, April 20 with the spoken word workshop from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. This workshop is designed to help students further prepare and polish their performances.
“This performing arts workshop will use active techniques to expand students’ creative and critical thinking skills and will focus on the art of performing poetry for others,” explained the Dayton Human Relations Council website.
On Friday, April 24, the Kin Killing Kin bus tour begins at 4:30 PM. This bus tour will encourage informal art and discussion about the Kin Killing Kin gun violence awareness billboards currently placed throughout the city of Dayton. Pickup locations are at the Wesley Community Center on Delphos Avenue, Fairview Elementary School on Elsmere Avenue, and Omega Baptist Church on Emerson Avenue.
At the end of the Kin Killing Kin bus tour will be the 1 World Celebration on the University of Dayton’s ArtStreet.
The celebration will feature food, art, music, performance, and 5 elements of hip hop. At the 1 World Celebration, “creative expression will be explored as tool a for community engagement, empowerment and speaking out against gun violence.”
Finally, the main event, called the “Speak. Be Heard. Be Considered Spoken Work Grand Slam,” hosted by Metaphorically Speaking, will take place on Saturday, April 25, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Victoria Theatre.
The Grand Slam will be a multi-round tournament show featuring original writing and verbal expression for a live audience. Admission is free.
Winning students have the opportunity to record a compilation CD of their pieces in the University of Dayton Street Sounds Recording Studio.
Maggie Stacey
Staff Writer