Community Partnerships Supporting Material: Who and What...
Hello. My name is Slamalamadingdong.
We are a spoken word, cross disciplinary poetry series quickly putting Melbourne on the National scene as having one of the strongest spoken word poetry communities in Australia. We honor founder Marc Smith's "Slam Papi" Philosophy and offer the absolute highest calibre of locally and internationally acclaimed featured artists. We are a safe space where all poets are truly welcomed and supported.
As Founder and Creative Director Michelle Dabrowski is responding to the needs of the community as the driving force behind Slamalamadingdong. Producing sold out monthly events, uplifting emerging artists and creating authentic two directional dialogue with all community members.
Since Slamalamadingdong started in 2011 we have established our spirit and core values as well as our place within the Melbourne Spoken Word Poetry Community.
Slamalamadingdong's goal in 2014 is to further refine the foundation and management of administrative processes, marketing and community/artist partnerships as Michelle leads a committed team of Artists who are stepping up, helping take the reins of event production and programming.
Slamalamadingdong Community Projects
Open Community Forums at 1:1 Architects
Come together. Grow.
Repeat.
Slamalamadingdong invites poets, storytellers, artists, change makers, community development practitioners and multidisciplinary innovators from all industries of the human experience to join together, share, communicate and grow in connection.
With the intention of elevating and amplifying the active voices within the slam and spoken word community in Melbourne, Slamalamadingdong Open Community Forums are casual, intimate and accepting settings in which to share and explore how we engage with each other as artists.
This is a call out to all the conscious change makers, artists and entrepreneurs finding places and spaces to be heard within community development contexts. Practitioners from all art forms are welcome with a vision of working together to form a common vocabulary.
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A co-created space in which the agenda is set by all attending.
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A space in which to network and create local community allies.
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A space in which to reflect on ones personal and professional art practice.
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An arena for mentor and men-tee-ship to flourish.
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Two directional exchanges between all members in the community to both identify and respond to the needs of artists within our movement.
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Dialogue regarding the direction of the monthly slam in 2014, 2015 and to co-create a strategic vision towards a national festival in 2016.
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Writing prompts and facilitation led by volunteering artist.
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Keynote speakers from interdisciplinary industries.
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Poets performing and jamming on forum themes/ topics.
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Allocated session time for networking.
"What a wonderful opportunity it was to share and connect and hope and dream together. Thanks Michelle for organizing and carrying the light. I am so impressed with the vitality and potential of this community and can't wait to get more involved in 2014 - yeah, bring it on!"
- Amaya, Dec 7th Forum Participant
Community Partners 2014-2016 Wypin and Slamalama
"The X-Traction Program"
 This was Sarah's first time recording her voice. |  Jocelyn warms up the mic with her fierce vocals. She's all attitude and confidence! |  The Wypin crew get physical and expressive. |
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 Two days of workshops and the stories we recorded mark another step in this groups development. |  Ulei's poem was about wanting to become a musician/drummer and be a leader in his community by teaching children how to play music. |  Listen to Nahom's piece on the Sound Cloud link below! |
WYPIN Freestyle Jams with Michelle Dabrowski and Jacky T, National Youth Week
"On day two we had two awesome facilitators – Michelle Dabrowski and Jacky T. They gave us an introduction to spoken word art better known as slam poetry. They gave us ideas to get us started, and then we all took with it and ran with our own stories and creations.
Personally I enjoyed this – this session taught me a lot. It reintroduced me to journaling and taught me to look inside. I felt like I have a story to tell, and people want to hear it!”
-Trinh Tran, 25 years,
Australian-Vietnamese young woman
WYPIN Member
Events from the 2012-2013 Slama Seasons
 576010_810831705084_281630744_n.jpg |  Job5-2013MarchPoster-v3.jpg |  Jam Slam 2013 Final.jpg |
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 Scratching FINAL PRINT.jpg |  Interview Slam Flyer Final.jpg |  Anything Goes, September 20th.jpg |
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Audience and Artist Testimonials
"Slamalamadingdong is Australia's best regular slam event. I'd even go as far to say it could be Australia's best all-round poetry event. Though the team behind it would never fall for arguments of hierarchy, they are too charming, respectful and in love with the art form to place any one poet above anyone else. And so these are exactly the people who we need to run Slam in Australia... so the points don't matter, but at Slamalama the point truly is the poetry and the growth of the community."
-Luka Lesson
Australian Poetry Slam Champion 2012
“Slamalamadingdong has given me a safe place to gather, to be however i need to be in a city, it has given me a place to take off my mask, it has given me a family of understanding, it has given me something honest to look forward to. It has provided a way for our community to preserve culture through story telling. I have watched people, shout, scream, cry, reveal grow and most of all share in a supported environment. We are a bunch of misfits- together we cover every look, size and race but judgement stays outside, we are only interested in the spoken word and all that is within that. Thank you.”
-Melanie Balkan, Artist and Slamalamadingdong Volunteer 2011-2014
“The slam has been a community that has boosted, supported and encouraged personal growth, healthy risk taking and has helped me to develop a stronger identity as a human being and performer. I discovered that I was a poet, and that my stories, sad, happy and excited, were expressions of my spirit; something to be shared and celebrated. With the support of leaders and poets of different backgrounds and experiences, travelling poets and professional poets, there is richness in the learning. I experienced a university degree standard of questioning and learning and give opportunities to share my voice through the experientially and playfully driven grass roots nature of the community. I feel so grateful for the leaders amongst this community, who have helped many people see that they have choice, and creative possibilities.”
–Charlotte Roberts, Singer Song Writer, Poet, 2013