Calling all teens! You, or your school’s poetry club, can now register to participate in ImmortALL, a historic teen poetry project!

For a second year of the project, Teens With a Purpose (TWP), the partnership invites Hampton Roads teens to learn about local African American history while discovering the lively art of performance poetry!

In ImmortALL, performance poetry and social change meet oral history, including from those who lived through the civil rights movement, in this unique program. Sessions start in late October 2021 through April 2022 where teens will engage in TWP’s signature virtual performance poetry workshops. ImmortALL teens will display their re-interpretations of local oral history, through the lens of their own experiences with current events, in a final public performance in April 2022.

“Teens With a Purpose celebrates the African tradition of storytelling through performance poetry during ImmortALL poetry workshops for teens and The Hampton Roads Youth Poet Laureate Program,” said Deirdre Love, Executive Director of Teens With a Purpose. “The ImmortALL journey allows young people to hear the stories, told by the living legends, those who attended the first high school in Virginia Beach for African Americans. Young people take inspiration from the workshops and interviews to create meaningful response poems – making them immortal.”

Teens, teachers, and poetry clubs can register to participate in the program, and view the full workshop  schedule, here:

Students (REGISTER HERE)

Find out more about bringing Immortall to your youth. Email twpmichelle@gmail.com

TWP workshops are supported in part by funding from the Virginia Beach Arts & Humanities Commission, City of Norfolk and Business Consortium for the Arts.