Spoken Word Residency

Engaging students through spoken word and a free writing space

Poet Laureate for the City of Orlando, Shawn Welcome will be conducting spoken word workshops in select schools. The goal is to stimulate the interest and amplify creative voices. This will be an opportunity for students to use their voices in response to the world around them, through the artistry of their unique poetic pieces as it relates to social issues that are worthy of an artistic response. Shawn facilitates this workshop via performing his own works, engaging students in conversation and activities around writing and performance, lecture, silent writing times, and sharing.

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About the Artist

Shawn Welcome

Shawn Welcome is the City of Orlando's official Poet Laureate and has been engaged in community related work since 2006. He is the Founder and CEO of Diverse Word, LLC, a creative arts organization dedicated to the cultivation and exporting of performance poetry among other creative arts offerings. He has written NBA commercials for the Orlando Magic, done voice overs for university ads, traveled the US speaking and performing, and graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in English Literature.

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Our Supporters

This residency is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the Hearst Foundations.