on slam and safe space - cross-posted from my lj

[succulentpoet]

This is for anyone who is a poet, runs a venue, or attends poetry slams semi-regularly: do you have any guidelines about maintaining the slam as a safe space?

In any open forum, there is the capacity for sexism, racism, homophobia; for oppression; for threats; etc. And while freedom of speech is paramount to the success of slam, it can also be a

Comments

It's pretty much just going to be like that...

[chaoward]

myself and a friend run one of the most well known venues in tampa bay, and have done so for altogether almost three years. down by us there are, somehow, enough venues to contain all the different shows. those who allow that on stage and have a history of that sort of thing have their show; we've got our show, and the other hosts have their own shows as well. we've not had any worse problem than an elderly essayist who i had to, as politely as one can, get the hell off the stage and drunkards who are, at least to the crowd, amusing until we finally scoot them off and out. of course, i do not by any means live in a primarily white suburbanesque atmosphere; much more the opposite is a bit more than half and the rest is fairly evenly spread. i got lucky insofar as placement

[ex_allenb]

Actually, I'm glad you brought this up. I all but stopped going to the local open mic (not exclusively a slam) because it was hard to read there without having to read over someone heckling or talking in the audience.

Not exactly the same thing, but a similar problem. It sucks.

But really happy you brought this topic up!