THE PITCH:
You can read my full bio/credentials here, but the main takeaway is that while yes, if you want to book me to just show up and perform poems, I can do that, but my background is in social justice education. So in that spirit, my work is more often about using poems as jumping-off points for authentic dialogue and community-building, especially around issues we don't always get a chance to talk about. Art and storytelling give us space to have what are hopefully deeper, more critical conversations around issues like gender violence, masculinity, whiteness, privilege, power, activism, and agency. My presentations are dynamic and interactive, built around the people who are in the room, and mix performance, lecture, and live dialogue with the audience.
Sometimes, that means introducing concepts of (for example) toxic masculinity and its connection to gender violence for a group of young men like a sports team or fraternity. Other times, it's about creating space for students who have already had that conversation to explore what action and activism might look like in their community. It can be "intro level" material or something more advanced. While I can share specific titles and blurbs for programs, those are never set-in-stone scripts; I always base the outline and curriculum of a program on the specific needs and interests of the people involved.
A FEW PROGRAM IDEAS AND OPTIONS:
- Colleges and Universities
- General Format: An hour-long evening performance (including some interactivity and Q&A), plus whatever workshops or class visits can fit on that particular day.
- Themed presentation: a spoken word performance can be built around a particular topic-- rape culture and gender violence prevention, turning social justice values/ideas into concrete actions, or another impulse we come up with together.
- Other Options: Extended residencies, first-year orientation programs facilitation, hosting student open mics, presenting Masters research (on how spoken word can be used to make social justice education programs more critical), hip hop performance, and any combination of the above.
- Workshops: These more interactive/participatory sessions can be tailored to any audience. Some are more arts-focused (like an introduction to spoken word as practice and culture); others more social justice-focused (like a facilitated discussion breaking down the idea of “allyship”); others combine the two impulses (like a workshop on writing “political” poetry, or a workshop exploring the history of how art has intersected with social movements).
- Conferences
- Poetic Keynote: In lieu of a traditional keynote speech, this presentation uses a series of poems (plus some commentary between them) to spark critical thinking and discussion on a particular theme or topic.
- Opening Act: A brief spoken word performance can be a great way to either precede or follow a keynote speaker, bringing a different energy/approach into the space.
- Workshops: (see above)
- High Schools and Middle Schools
- In Minnesota: Guante is currently on the teaching artist rosters of both TruArtSpeaks and COMPAS, and is available for extended residencies, one-time programs/presentations, and in-school performances.
- Outside Minnesota: Feel free to get in touch directly if you’d like to discuss how Guante can visit your school.
Feel free to get in touch with any ideas, pitches, thoughts or questions: elguante@gmail.com
