For the second year in a row, Street Poets was invited to participate in the annual international Youth Initiative Forum in Jarna, Sweden. SP Teaching Artists Art Quiros and Frank Escamilla, along with youth leader Jaynese “Ladybug” Poole, were asked to share their creative gifts with the conference participants, hosting an open-mic event as well writing and dance workshops.
Most importantly perhaps, a poetic dialogue begins — between two communities that share not only deep wounds, but powerful gifts capable of transforming our world into something in which we can all believe. This, in the end, is why we are here.