BuckSlam MN

Founded in 2023, BuckSlam MN is a collective of artists and organizers that facilitates regular poetry slams, readings, workshops, and performances in and around the Twin Cities. Our signature event is a once monthly poetry slam held at Boneshaker Books, but we are eagerly endeavoring to expand programing. This expansion of programing is only possible with the material, logistical, and social support of our community. Commensurate with that support we as organization strive to build a platform from which members of the public can join together and bear witness to each others experience and more deeply internalize each others reality of joy, struggle, loss, passion, and wonder through artistic expression.

Poetry is a necessary platform for social dialogue and vehicle for our collective liberation. We value poetry not only for its incredible aesthetic value, but for its material effects. In an era of isolation and deepening stratification, we believe that poetry is a means through which we can create empathy and lessen loneliness. These spaces allow for individuals to come together and forge the bonds that result in increased mobilization and that motivate people to remain rooted in a justice framework. We seek to empower a diverse community of spoken word poets by making the art form welcoming, safe, and accessible for all. BuckSlam is an active member of the Twin Cities’ literary community that brings poetry to a wider range of audiences and artists. We envision a robust poetry ecosystem in which poetry is readily accessible, easy to engage with, and woven into the fabric of everyday life.

Money raised for BuckSlam will go towards supporting the development of our poets and community. We will use funds to send the BuckSlam team to tournaments and retreats, to purchase additional equipment and materials for our monthly slams, and to compensate our competitors and venues. These prizes allow individuals from marginalized communities to craft their work in a supportive environment dedicated to their development as an artist, perhaps for the first time. Furthermore, it entices the audience to perform that most frightening of acts; to become vulnerable and give of themselves literarily in a public setting. 

BuckSlam MN is a sponsored project of Springboard for the Arts, a nonprofit arts service organization. Contributions on behalf of BuckSlam may be made payable to Springboard for the Arts and are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.