The Burlington Slam Project

The Burlington Slam Project (BSP) is a monthly, poetry oriented, high-energy competition that includes an open mic and a different special guest artist, each month.
The series has been running for 7 years (as of July 2015) in the city of Burlington, ON, and continues to gain momentum largely off the gumption of its founders and core supporters and the simple laws of attraction. The supporters and participants come from diverse backgrounds and find commonality in the expression of the written word and the nuance of competitive performance.
While the competition is judged by the audience; the points and prizes are only a small source of the motivation for the intrigue that a poetry slam inspires. Many people who come for the first time leave saying, “WOW! That was NOT what I expected!”
What is truly captivating at a poetry slam is the range of human experience that is broadcast through original works and distinct voices, some that are finding their own talents for the first time on our stage.
The slam provides much more sustenance than a simple poetry reading, because the audience has the power to reward the art that reaches them the most and is encouraged to be vocal in this reaction. The slam provides a safe space for ideas and attitudes that, while not shared in mainstream media, are often a shared view of the issues that polite society refuses to talk about. Many artists find the art form therapeutic, challenging, fun and constantly evolving.
We use poetry as a tool to engage our deepest fears, secrets, observations, etc, some using humour or candor, while others use subversive thematics and clever wordplay. There is no limit to what an artist can do with 3 minutes and an attentive audience.
Slam has become an epidemic spreading across the US for the last 25 years and gaining ground in Canada over the past decade. In the last two years alone, multiple new slams have popped across Ontario and beyond. The Burlington Slam Project is one of 3 teams in Canada that can send competitors to BOTH the Canadian and US National slam competitions.