People in Victoria are talking this month. With both the Victoria Spoken Word Festival and the Ideawave conference happening on the same week, Victorians are being exposed to a variety of artists and critical thinkers with something to say.
The second annual Victoria Spoken Word Festival is one of the few opportunities for young Canadian poets to grow past the slam poetry scene. The festival starts with three days of artist-only workshops where they will explore a wide variety of performance styles. The performers assemble a show in that time which will become the substance of the festival. The festival’s material is often edgy, taking non-mainstream viewpoints of sex, politics, family, and life with emphasis that this is “not your grandma’s poetry,” according to organizers.
“The workshops really got us out of our comfort zone right from the start,” says Vancouver performer Johnny McRae, returning for the second year. “The energy there, in such a creative space where we have spent the last three days, really affected people.”
Meanwhile, the third Ideawave conference is an opportunity to hear the ideas of great thinkers in an engaging setting. Speakers, who range from scientists to improvisational performers, touch on topics from growing young farmers to hacking biology. The two-day conference will feature 50 different talks and each speaker has 10 minutes to give the audience a snapshot of their ideas.
“There are no limitations on subject matter,” explains organizer Kris Constable, “if someone asks me if it’s business ideas I say, ‘Yes,’ if someone asks me if it’s ideas that change the world I say, ‘Yes.’ It’s a very diverse range.”
Constable says his mission is to engage critical thinkers with the community in hopes of making innovation more affordable and accessible.
Victoria Spoken Word Festival
February 23
Solstice Café (529 Pandora Ave.)
February 24-26
Intrepid Theater (1609 Blanshard St.)
victoriaspokenwordfestival.com
Ideawave
February 25-26
Ambrosia Conference & Event Centre (638 Fisgard Street)
ideawave.ca