Spoken word workshops for local high school students to be conducted by Orlando’s Poet Laureate

ORLANDO, Fla. – For many people, public speaking can be daunting, especially when you’re pouring your heart out into something like poetry.

For the City of Orlando’s Poet Laureate, Shawn Welcome, he’s using spoken word to inspire and lift up the Central Florida community.

Performing in front of large audiences is not new to him. He has built a career around collaborating with businesses and delivering performances at various events, ranging from Orlando City soccer games to the inauguration of Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, as well as at Pulse Memorials and local Black History and Martin Luther King Jr. commemorations.

Additionally, the UCF alumnus is recognized in the community for initiating Diverse Word, Orlando’s most enduring open mic night which he established in 2006.

Using his own narrative and teachings, he has ventured into the community to demonstrate how individuals can leverage their own voices for positive purposes. His outreach efforts have extended to collaborations with the Boys & Girls Club, Oak Ridge High School, and even the Orange County Jail.

One of those community engagement events includes the “Voices of Freedom: An Evening of Spoken Word” showcase. It’s in its fourth year and new schools are added each year.

Next week, Welcome will be hosting a week-long spoken word poetry residency. He’ll be going to Edgewater, Ocoee, and Oak Ridge High Schools to expose Central Florida’s Black youth to spoken word poetry.

He works with students on their creative writing skills, critical thinking skills, and finding their voice. The overall goal is to help them build their confidence.

It all ends with the “Voices of Freedom” showcase, where select students will have a chance to show off their work. This year, the showcase will also feature K-Love The Poet from Chicago, a local step team out of New Image Youth Center in Parramore, a group of four singers performing a theatrical spoken word, and DJ T-VEL.

“Voices of Freedom” creates a space to celebrate Black History Month with an all-Black cast of poetry performers, while also exploring themes connected to the Black experience.

Welcome says it also presents an opportunity for the greatness within the local community to be seen and heard in a light that is many times, few and far between.

The “Voices of Freedom” showcase is on Feb. 7 inside the Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center. Click here for details.

Welcome will also be speaking Friday at the ZORA! Outdoor Festival of the Arts in Eatonville, which celebrates local literary icon, Zora Neale Hurston.