The Black Arts Matter Festival will be returning to Madison next month and along with it, a new Young, Gifted, & Black Youth Talent Competition, which will be held at MYArts on 1055 E. Mifflin St. on Nov. 12 from 2-4 p.m.
The Black Arts Matter Festival was founded by artist, actor, and award-winning poet Shasparay Irvin. For Irvin, the addition of a youth event based in the community was something that stood out as an important part in extending the reach and engagement the festival has.
“I really wanted to do this event, because I did similar competitions when I was young,” Irvin told Madison365. “I used to do competitions while I was in Austin, and it was really motivating. It kept me interested in getting good grades so that I could go out and compete in poetry slams and youth competitions. It also provided me with things like a laptop. I was able to go to college and apply to colleges on that laptop that I won with the NAACP ACT-SO award. Lots of going back to my roots, and in that way, I wanted to engage the youth.”
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