Project Voice Poet Phil Kaye addressed the entire student body in the morning during an assembly, and then spent some one-on-one time with individual pupils in a workshop setting during the afternoon.
Walnut Springs Middle School will be hosting a Poetry Slam in March. Students there got some early inspiration from poet Phil Kaye, who spent the day there on Tuesday, December 11. His visit was funded through grants provided by the Westerville Education Foundation, the Parent Teacher Student Association, and Fund-a-Project.
Kaye is an award-winning poet who has shared his words around the world, performing and teaching in 10 different countries. His work has been viewed online more than three million times, and he has worked in venues from Lincoln Center in New York City to the Malthouse Theater in Melbourne, Australia. A Lightbulb Symphony, his first collection of poetry, was published in 2011. Kaye is the former head coordinator of Space in Prisons for the Arts and Creative Expression (SPACE), and taught weekly poetry workshops in maximum-security detention facilities. He is the only two-time recipient of the National College Poetry Slam award for “Pushing the Art Forward,” given for outstanding innovation in the art of performance poetry A graduate of Brown University, Kaye currently lives in New York City.
Kaye help found Project VOICE, a team of highly accomplished writers, performers, and educators. As writers, they have published Amazon best sellers, been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, been featured on radio and television, and had their poetry published in numerous literary journals, magazines, and anthologies. As performers, they have thrilled international audiences from National Poetry Slam stages to TED Conferences, from HBO Television to NPR Radio and Lincoln Center. As educators, they have earned degrees in Education, mentored students of all ages, taught in hundreds of classrooms and communities around the world, led professional development workshops, been interviewed and featured in numerous publications, and have been keynote presenters at a multitude of education conferences.