Classic Slam image

Classic Slam x KTLA, Poetry LA, Broadway World, and more

April 12, 2022

Our Classic Slam press release was recently picked up by 387 sites, including some top sites such as KTLA, Yahoo! Finance, AP, Markets Insider, and nationwide local news channels. In addition, it was tweeted by Poetry LA and covered by Broadway World. Read it below:

WORLD-RENOWNED ARTISTS COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE YOUTH AT GET LIT- WORDS IGNITES, 11th ANNUAL CLASSIC POETRY SLAM APRIL 21-23. The Three-Day Competition Is The Largest Classic Poetry Slam In The World.

April 11, 2022 – Los Angeles, CA— Get Lit – Words Ignite, the Los Angeles-based educational nonprofit whose mission is to increase literacy, empower youth, and energize communities through poetry and visual media will hold its 11th annual Classic Poetry Slam April 21- 23, 2022.  The three-day Classic Slam event, which culminates with the Grand Slam Finals, is the largest Classic Poetry Slam in the world and includes hundreds of young poets from schools throughout California.  These young poets will come together to perform classic poems and original spoken word response pieces, live, for a panel of judges.  The public is invited to watch the live stream of the Grand Slam Finals on April 23rd beginning at 5pm PST on ClassicSlam.org. This year's judges will include world-renowned authors, poets, artists, and cultural luminaries such as Safia Elhillo, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Yesika Salgado, Sam Rush, and Edwin Bodney.   The 2022 slam will be hosted by actress, activist and poet Ashley August along with poet Vanessa Tahay and will also feature DJ Franky.

Get Lit - Words Ignite, one of the nation’s leading non-profit arts and literacy organizations for spoken word poetry and film.  The organization fuses classic and spoken word poetry to increase literacy, empower youth, and inspire communities.

On April 21st and 22nd students will compete in Quarter & Semi-Final rounds in order to earn a spot in the Classic Slam 2022 Finals on April 23rd. Get Lit will award over $10,000 in cash and prizes to both poets and educators. The Classic Slam 2022 will be streaming across and through www.ClassicSlam.org. Online audiences will be able to watch their favorite team compete for the championship title. Some of the Los Angeles High Schools participating include LA School of Global Studies, Hamilton, Larchmont Charter, Animo Inglewood, Venice High School, Cleveland High School, Harvard-Westlake, San Gabriel High School, and more.

Get Lit was founded in 2006 after Diane Luby Lane created a one-woman show about the power of books and toured colleges, high schools, jails, and detention centers with iconic Chicano poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. After the show closed, Lane started teaching classic and spoken word poetry in three high schools: Fairfax, Fremont, and Walt Whitman Continuation. Today, the curriculum has expanded to over 140 schools throughout California, and is sold to schools all over the world. Get Lit’s poetic ambassadors, the Get Lit Players, have over 350 million online views.

Get Lit invites students to recite classic poems, and then perform their own spoken word responses. This creates a dialogue between the classic poet and the student. However, at Get Lit a classic isn’t a classic because it’s old, it’s a classic because it’s great. Participants in The Classic Slam are just as likely to perform the work of Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost as they are to hear poems by Elizabeth Acevedo and Tupac Shakur. “We are so excited to be back in-person after holding the past two Classic Slams virtually,” said Diane Luby Lane, Founder of Get Lit. “This year’s event will bring together hundreds of students, many of whom will be participating in the competition for the first time.”

FOLLOW US
MEDIA
REQUESTS:
Rachel Falikoff
Let's Make New PR
rfalikoff@lmnpr.com

the latest

Special Thanks to the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation
PBS Documentary Beyond Words: Verses of Change
Get Lit Presents: A Certain Kind of Fire @ the Nimoy Theater
NEW: Los Angeles Times "‘Our Words Collide’ documents 5 L.A. teen poets testifying to spoken word’s transformative power"
NEW: 'Our Words Collide' Documentary on Streaming!
NEW: EdSource article "LA arts education group fights falling literacy rates through poetry"
Diane Luby Lane on iHeart's KFI Featured Segments
NEW: Get Lit awarded the Yield Giving Open Call
2023-2024 Annual Report
Get Lit Player Marlee Porter Featured on CBS’ The Talk
Celebrate The Holidays With FOX TV for All
The Hollywood Reporter Highlights Get Lit's 13th Annual Gala in Events of the Week.
Young Hollywood: “Get Lit Is Changing The Game For Youth Creative Expression!"
LRM's Red Carpet Interviews at the Gala
Get Lit Founder Travels to D.C. to Receive Award from the Library of Congress
Hollywood First Look Spotlights Get Lit’s 2023 GALA
Get Lit Honored with National Philanthropy Award
Get Lit’s Voices in Verse is 1 of only 11 LAUSD-approved Ethnic Studies courses!
The 2023 Poetic Convergence
The October Prose Bowl Featuring Toaster
Documentary Highlighting Get Lit Youth Poets to Land on New Streaming Site
#TVFORALL with Fox TV: Hispanic Heritage Month
The Library of Congress Literacy Awards
Samuel Curtis and Yoko April Tamada Featured on Write On Podcast
Diane Luby Lane and Sam Curtis Talk the Vision for Get Lit
Salome Agbaroji and Diane Luby Lane on Spectrum News
The 2023 Teaching Artist Showcase
Congrats to the 2023 Alumni!
A Message from our Founder
Defying Isolation Through Poetry: Spoken Word and Mental Health
Deputy Director Mason Granger Talks the Power of Spoken Word while Guest Starring on Podcast
Amazon Literary Partnership Announces Get Lit as one of the 2023 Poetry Fund Recipients
Inside the Making of Get Lit’s New Curriculum Videos
The Paul Eckstein Memorial Scholarship
The 2023-2024 Get Lit Players
Sierra Leone Anderson, 2023 Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles
Interview with Diane Luby Lane in The Knockturnal
Nerds of Color: "Mental Health Awareness Takes Center Stage at Get Lit’s ‘Our Worlds Collide’ Screening"
Breathing Fire: May 2023
#TVFORALL with FOX TV: Pride Month
Spectrum News x Classic Slam
#TVFORALL with FOX TV: AANHPI Heritage Month
#TVFORALL with FOX TV: Women's History Month
Our National Youth Poet Laureate: Salome Agbaroji!
The Buzz x Classic Slam
Nerds of Color + Classic Slam
All About the Classic Slam 2023
HITS Magazine with Get Lit Player Salome Agbaroji
The 2021-2022 Annual Report
Get Lit X FOX TV Network
We're viral on TikTok!
Get Lit and the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles
PAST THE MARGIN: Our Annual Gala
Get Lit Lights Up the Association of California School Administrators San Diego Conference
HFPA Banquet Features LA Youth Poet Laureate
Blitz Show at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance
Honoring Mindy Kaling at the Common Sense Media Awards
Cronkite News - Arizona PBS x Get Lit
Storyteller's Spotlight at Disney's D23 Expo
ABC 7 News Featuring Get Lit
Tedx features Diane Luby Lane
ABC 7 News Featuring Sierra Leone Anderson
Uni(verse) Launch Gala x Jane Fonda
Summertime x KCRW
The Get Lit Summertime Block Party!!!
Harry & Meghan x Get Lit x People Magazine
TOWN & COUNTRY
SUMMERTIME MOVIE TRAILER & POETRY BOOK
PR Newswire x Jane Fonda
Kelly Marie Tran Poet Transformation
PBS x Get Lit
Get Lit In New Yorker Feature About Community
Mila Cuda x Boston Globe
insidewink Interview x Diane Luby Lane
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON – HOPE RISING INTRO
Metro Arts x Summertime
HELLO
Los Angeles Teachers honored at Summertime Movie Premiere!
Juneteenth x Archewell
Hollywood Reporter x Get Lit
HARPERS BAZAAR
Get Lit Poets x L.A. Times
Golden Globes x Get Lit
Get Lit x NBA Foundation
Get Lit x Kelly Clarkson Show
Get Lit x Van’s
Get Lit Featured on NBCLA
Get Lit x LA Times
GABBY WILSON H.E.R. & AMANDA GORMAN
DAILY MAIL
ELLE
Diane Luby Lane x Splash Magazine
Deadline x Our Words Collide
Classic Slam x KTLA, Poetry LA, Broadway World, and more!
Business Mogul x Diane Luby Lane
CherryPicks x Poetry in Film
Black History Month x Get Lit Minute
Better Things x Get Lit Poets
Authority Magazine x Raul Herrera
Amazon Smile/Kroger