A Virtual Workshop/Storytelling Experience
Navigating our rest and resistance with poetry. Connection and community are the foundations of storytelling, and award-winning Spoken Word Artist PDB (Patrick de Belen) has been building formulas to refine his impact on digital platforms. In this session, PDB takes you on a journey through his experiences with poetry, with a series of writing activities, performance skill building, his own poetry, and ending with an open-mic opportunity.
Since the first lockdown, PDB has already taken his virtual workshop to multiple communities around the continent! Friends from across the world are dealing with a drastic change of landscape, and providing them with space to feel and express becomes even more important than it already was. These are turbulent times, and PDB believes that (with a healthy and motivated body and mind) it is the responsibility of a storyteller to respond, rest and resist.
Priority registration will be given to U of T Students. Others can secure a spot in the workshop for a minimal fee.
Facilitator
-
Patrick de Belen
Patrick de Belen is a rare breed of artist. This Toronto-based Filipino-Canadian spoken word poet, performer, speaker, host and educator is one whose formidable acclaim as a performance artist and writer is equaled by his commitment to his community, and his status as an enduring source of insight, energy and mentorship for young poets across North America. As a performer, Patrick has garnered praise and admiration for his ability to blend sharp social commentary with an exhaustless wit, charm and creative candour. This combination of talents has made him a national slam champion, as he was at the 2012 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, and a performer of note on such platforms as CBC, TED Talk, NEXE and others. He is also the first ever recipient of the Spoken Word Poet of Honour award at YouthCanSlam—Canada’s national youth poetry festival, an award he won on the basis of his dual talents as a poet of remarkable ability and an educator of enduring devotion, passion and intelligence.
Off the stage, he is committed to his work in arts education/mentorship; involved in partnerships with a long list of institutions and organizations including jails, schools, health centres, libraries and more. He is also the director of BAM! Toronto Youth Poetry Slam and the facilitator of the Filipino Storytelling workshop series, “Poetry is Our Second Language”.
Website