| in Plain Text |
| Current features |
| Past articles |
| main features |
| spoken word: Book of Voices |
| poetry video: Videotheque |
| background: about e-poets |
| other features |
| network neighborhood |
| e-poets network partners |
| artist Heather Haley Vancouver, BC, Canada |
| Cinasphere Vallejo, California, USA |
| Poet in Residence Queensland, Australia |
| Farrago Poetry London, England |
|
artist Patrick Sanchez poet-at-large |
| e-poets network Chicago, Illinois, USA |
follow us  on Facebook |
on bigger prizes for slamming - one MC's view
an interview with Charles Ellik, MC of the Berkeley Poetry Slam, continued
You published some fairly detailed entry rules governing this slam. Being informal affairs, most poetry slams don't go to those lengths. Why did you?
When you bring together people who don't know each other, and you raise the stakes, you are creating an environment that can breed negative competition, suspicion, and hostility. Thorough and precise rules help level the playing field and reassure competitors that they are in a professional environment where everyone will be treated fairly and equally.
There is absolutely a need for loose, groovy, easy-going slams that play fast and loose with the rules. Or even break and disregard the rules! That's just not my focus for this slam. In this slam, I'm upping the ante with the money, generating more stress, pushing people. So I must compensate by removing stress in other ways. Like creating a controlled environment with precise rules. It's reassuring. After all, how would you like to fly out all they way from New York to Berkeley, then get to read only one poem because the emcee decided to change the format at the last second? It's my job to be detail-oriented.
Now, if the poets want to break these rules, I encourage them! It makes the show more interesting, more fun, more controversial. That's their job! My job will requires me to enforce the rules, no matter how much fun we all have watching them being broken.
Where does the prize money come from? Are you working with other slam MC's to raise it?
I'm not at all afraid to share my budget. An average Berkeley Slam costs me around $400 to produce. This event is over two nights. I'll spend about $200 in flyers and posters, $1000 in prizes, plus I'll have to pay for extra staff and extra time, maybe an extra $200. That's a total of $2,000.
 |
But a savvy audience will not only create a better show, they choose more worthy champions and encourage more interesting poetry. Part of the appeal of this $1000 slam is that the winner will be chosen by this audience at this venue competing against this group of local poets. |
|
Do you have a long production time-line in advance of this series of slams? Or do you just wing it?
Does the weekly slam count? My regular attendance is about 100 paid, and over the years I can count on getting 150-200 paid attendees for special events. I also have a mailing list/newsletter that requires 10-15 hours of work every week, but it's read all over the world and has 2,300 subscribers (You can subscribe to the slamUPDATE in yahoogroups.com. Just use the search function.) This newsletter helps get word out on big events. So it's not much of a stretch from doing a regular slam, since it's held in the same venue. I have a large pool of experienced staff to choose from, most of the poets know the basic format, so rehearsals are not needed. I'm just doing more promotion, charging more at the door, and accepting more financial risk.
OK... Well, what if it were not part of a regular, weekly affair?
If I was doing this as a one-off event, I'd require a minimum 1-month prep time. And if I were producing this event with poets who had never slammed, or someplace besides a thriving slam scene, I'd want even more time. Mostly, this time would be spent in promotion: hitting up poetry-related events, putting out flyers, posters, and press releases on a regular basis. But I'd want at least one dress-rehearsal for the poets and staff.
So you regard your job as a slam MC to be more complicated than it seems?
A slam is pretty simple; I could run one completely by myself on stage. What is subtle and difficult to convey is the transparent "gimmick" of slam. Namely, that the winner ISN'T the best poet. The winner merely reflects the biases of 5 randomly selected judges. Selecting the best poet is not the point. Bringing together an audience and giving them permission to judge and interact with the poetry is the point. There's that famous saying "The point is not the points, the point is poetry" and this is a great slogan for newcomers.
But really, the point is people, not poetry. You have to educate your poets and some "plants" in the audience to have a really successful slam. A big prize can put too much emphasis on winning, if the emcee isn't careful to educate the audience and competitors.
And maybe that's another point you didn't ask about, but should be mentioned here. It's important to have an educated group of poets who understand the way a slam works. And it's also important to have an educated audience. When poets talk about a venue, they talk about those regulars like they were a person with a personality. It takes time to nurture such an audience, and work to maintain it. But a savvy audience will not only create a better show, they choose more worthy champions and encourage more interesting poetry. Part of the appeal of this $1000 slam is that the winner will be chosen by this audience at this venue competing against this group of local poets. It adds legitimacy and prestige to the flat monetary prize.
Does this event's promotion impose a larger burden on your time than a more day-to-day kind of slam would?
Of course. I'd say about an extra 30 hours of work over one month. The regular slam requires about 15 hours of work per week. The newsletter also requires 10-15 hours. The work I do for slam is almost a full-time job.
| |
|
| e-poets.net copyright © 1999-2016 e-poets network all rights reserved get in touch with us | tech info | legal | founder |