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FUSEFESTBANNERWEB2

TWP (Teens with a Purpose) -The Youth Movement is creating safe and healthy community in Norfolk with F.U.S.E. Fest a teen driven, youth inspired event encouraging unity with a focus on family fun for all ages. In its third year, this interactive event is being presented in a three part series highlighting the Spirit of poetry, music and dance, as it relates to the vitality of and spirit of a Community. The series kicked off the event in June with the Spirit of Poetry.   Youth Poets from the East Coast including world champions – DC Youth Poetry Slam Team and Philly Youth Poetry Movement joined up with Baltimore Citywide Youth Poetry Movement and our very own poets Hampton Roads Youth Poets, to bring the art of Spoken Word to the community. These poets were in Hampton Roads as part of the Stage 2 Street annual retreat which combines activism with the love of poetry sprinkled with bonding and fun. The Spirit of Poetry event included interactive activities from collaborative partners such as visual arts, career assessments by Tidewater Community College, goal setting by Achievable Greatness, Games with Norfolk Public Library and HIV testing and educational workshop by AIDS Health Foundation for National HIV Testing Day.

The Spirit of Music event featured musical performances from local artists K’Bana Blaq, Focus, Adynasty, and Teens With a Purpose’s very own Music Made Simple and Hampton Roads Youth Poets. There were also performances from several young poets and musicians that have been receiving training over the summer through Teens With a Purpose’s free summer camps. A fun interactive workshop, X-Ray, helped music listeners become conscious listeners, by analyzing the words

That they are listening to. The workshop put local artist in the hot seat by breaking down their lyrics. Ronald McDonald event made a visit to the community festival.

The final event, The Spirit of Dance featured a thrilling variety of dance, fitness, and musical performance. Youth and Families enjoyed two Zumba activities and a hip-hop fitness workshop. Greetings were brought by Deputy City Manager, Wynter Benda and NRPOS Division Head, Darrell Crittendon. Guests also experienced Honey In The Rock, an exciting praise dance group with two great performances.  White Stone also took the stage.
Collaborative partners engaged attendees with interactive activities such as visual arts, career assessments by Tidewater Community College, goal setting by Achievable Greatness, games with Norfolk Public Library and a Mental Health Awareness workshop by NAMI. Guests didn’t leave empty handed. They left with goodie bags from the pop-up farmers market that offered the community free canned foods, organic vegetables, fruits and herbs grown from TWP’s Garden of Amity. There was a special visual arts project that took place during FUSE to help litter prevention and neighborhood beautification which included creating original, youth-inspired art on the dumpster gate. Teens With a Purpose was awarded a grant to help fund this project by Keep Virginia Beautiful through their Thirty for Thirty grant. The goal is to beautify the neighborhood and prevent litter. The Garden of Amity is also part of the funded project.
Spirit of Poetry | June 25th View photos here 
Spirit of Music | July 27th View photos here 
Spirit of Dance | August 20th View photos here