Founded in August 2001, our mission is to create platforms and platform creatives for youth and community development. The animating idea behind Urban Artist Alliance was the concept of “social arts,” where poets, writers, actors, musicians, and visual artists would create art that reflect the conditions and possibilities of their communities. This kind of art is…
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It seems like every year, the Lyrical Therapy Open Mic team offers a free performance at UrbArts on New Year’s Day. The recent tradition continues as performances from Just Rich and other members of his collective open the new year with poems, songs, and good energy. While this is not their typical open mic, audiences…
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What does justice in the arts and culture sector look like? On Friday, August 30th, I will talk about examples of injustice and justice in the arts and culture sector in our region. The key source for this talk are based on a report released earlier this year by the Regional Arts Commission. While the…
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The UrbArts Organization’s youth poetry slam team won first place at the 2019 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival on July 20, 2019. It’s the first time in history that a youth poetry slam team representing St. Louis has been crowned champion of the international poetry competition throughout its more than two decades…
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Last month, UrbArts founder MK Stallings & St. Louis Youth Poet Laureate Camryn Howe talked the “transformative power” of spoken word poetry and the fun of poetry slam on Cut Paste, a podcast hosted by Jeremy Goodwin. Stallings discussed slam and weekend competition to hit .Zack when Rustbelt hits St. Louis June 21st & 22nd….
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UrbArts presents the 20th annual Rustbelt Midwest Regional Poetry Slam to be held in Grand Center at .Zack Friday, June 21st & Saturday, June 22nd. Over one hundred of the nation’s top spoken word poets will gather for this competition where the cash prizes are $1,500 for top team and $600 for the top individual…
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Fashion Statements for Social Justice is an exhibition created to shed light on the multifaceted, four dimensional, apparel industry and the confines of inequities woven into the fibers of the American justice system. This exhibition displays how articles of clothing, accessories and beauty products have been used throughout history to both divide and unite, express…
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Fashion Statements for Social Justice is an exhibition created to shed light on the multifaceted, four dimensional, apparel and beauty industries and the confines of social inequalities woven into the fibers of global justice or the lack there of. This exhibition displays how articles of clothing, accessories and beauty products have been used throughout history…
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UrbArts recently offered longtime member Siddall tha Selecta a DJ residency. While a fixture of Lyrical Therapy, a weekly event at UrbArts, Siddall will now perform at a larger number of events held in the Old North gallery as well as given the opportunity to brand his own DJ set. Siddall is tethered to the…
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Sarah Abbas and her Marquette High School teammates, Ella Woods and Megha Sanjay, swept the VerbQuake 2019 Youth Poetry Slam finals winning the team and individual championships in March. Known as Beauty & the Beats within the St. Louis Youth Poetry Slam community, much of their fiery content revealed careful consideration of social identity as…
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