Rising Voices Youth Poetry Movement

Rising Voices is a youth poetry program that began in 2011 with the aim of building platforms for young writers to speak.

Over the last five years, more than 100 poets from around the country have taken part in the extensive workshops with mentors from the community, and were able to share their stories on New Zealand's biggest stages.

This year Rising Voices lost our funding and our staff is currently volunteering their time and energy to help make these opportunities for our young poets possible. We are turning to you - our community - to help make our program successful this year.

Every small contribution counts, and all of it will go towards putting together the workshops in Auckland and Christchurch, to help get our finalists to the Grand Slam at the Auckland Town Hall on October 22nd, and make it a magical and unforgettable night for these young poets.

Supporting Rising Voices helps to build safe spaces for our young people across Aotearoa and link them together. These young people are the potential future leaders, teachers and creators of New Zealand. The opportunity to speak their truth is life changing.

The Rising Voices alumni have gone on to become youth advocates, international performers, TEDx speakers, award winning playwrights and most importantly, leaders within their communities.

We want to continue making Rising Voices a safe and powerful space for young writers to have their say and be heard, and we want you to join our community to help make that happen!

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The money raised from this campaign will go to fund the following things:

1. Plane tickets for our three finalists from Christchurch to the Grand Slam Finals in Auckland and covering a per diem to transport, feed, and house them during their trip.

2. Marketing and Advertising: Getting the word out is essential to make our Regional Slam events and Grand Slam events successful. This includes Facebook advertisements, poster designs, and poster printing/distribution.

3. Regional Events: each regional event will require funding to cover costs of venues -- which may include renting chairs, hiring sound and lighting technicians, and covering additional venue rental costs.

4. Koha for our staff: our incredible staff is donating all of their time and energy to helping make Rising Voices successful this year. Any additional funds remaining after covering our necessary costs will go towards a small token of our appreciation to our incredible volunteers who are running these workshops, organising this program, and making these opportunities possible!