Thank you for an amazing classic slam

This two-day event is the largest Classic Poetry Slam in the world!

Thousands of students attended the 12th annual Classic Slam over the course of a few days, and almost all of the attending students hadn't been out on a field trip since the pandemic began!

Congratulations to our top scoring poet of the night, Ashley Tahay; our top middle school team, GALA Middle School, and our winning school: Mark Keppel High School!

Thank you to everyone, from teachers to judges, from attendees to the students who poured out their souls on the stage. From the bottom of our hearts, thank YOU for your support for the work at Get Lit, which goes on all year, but culminates in this week. We are truly grateful.

CLASSIC SLAM

RAISE THE ROOTS

APRIL 20-22, 2023

The two-day Classic Slam is the largest Classic Poetry Slam in the world and includes hundreds of young poets from schools throughout California.  Young poets come together to perform Classic poems and original Spoken Word Response pieces, live, for a panel of judges.

RESERVE YOUR FINALS TICKET
VOICE IS POWER

VIP PARTY

Preferred Seating
Pre-Show Cocktails

CONTACT
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VOICE IS POWER
To reserve your seat, email andrea@getlit.org. arrive by 4:30pm to ensure your place in the audience.

HOSTED BY

Ashley August Image

ASHLEY AUGUST

Ashley August is black, alive and loves a good list! She is an afro-latina actress, author, playwright, activist, teaching artist, touring spoken word artist, previously 3rd ranked woman poet in the world, a cast member of the ABC/Disney Discovers cast (‘21-‘22), hip-hop junkie, ASTEP at Juilliard fellow, former Youth Poet Laureate of New York City and recently, named one of The New York Times 30 Under 30 Most Influential people.Along with multiple stage and screen appearances, her credits include Sundance, Cannes Film Festival, Netflix, Aljazaera America, The GAP, BET, and HBO. She's also written and performed for Adidas, Refinery 29, Under Armour, Nike, MTV, Comedy Central and more. August is the author of three self-exploratory books, “Love Handles”, “Licorice” and "Say I Won't". She is the former curator and Slam Master of the Legendary Bowery Poetry Club. With Belize and Brooklyn embedded into her (he)art, August is motivated to speak the unsaid truth and push the boundaries of spoken word and performance to realms they've yet to live in. You can find her latest work in the Breakbeat Poetry Collection "LatiNext" and appearing on upcoming TV programs. She currently resides in LA and is figuring it all out!

Join us at the Classic Slam
Finals on April 22!

LAST YEAR'S top POEM

The Quarter and Semi-Finals are on Thursday, April 20 and are by invitation only — for more information about these events please email us.

faq

When can I begin teaching the program?

You can begin teaching the program as soon as you would like! Many of the schools begin now, and some start at the beginning of their second semester in January. Contact Laurie@GetLit.org for more information.

When does the Classic Slam take place?

The 2023 Classic Slam is taking place at LATC (Los Angeles Theater Center) on April 20 & 21, with Classic Slam Finals taking place at the Theatre at the ACE Hotel on Saturday April 22.

How many teams compete each day?

Roughly 50 teams compete in the Classic Slam quarterfinals each day. The top 8 teams from each day will go on to compete in the semifinals at the end of the day. The last four teams will compete at finals, and one will be champion!

Join us at the Classic Slam!

Contact us to see how you and your students can participate in our electric week of poetry.

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