Published: May 14, 2009

Spoken Word Performances At The White House

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By Carolee Walker

White House Hosts Evening of Poetry and Music

Washington - Amid an ornate grand piano, satin ottomans, soft lights and flickering candles, a diverse group of professional and emerging artists used music and words to move a crowd of artists, celebrities, political and cultural leaders and the first family in the East Room of the White House during an evening poetry jam May 12.

"We're here tonight ... to highlight the importance of the arts in our life and in our nation," said President Obama. "We're here to celebrate the power of words and music to help us appreciate beauty, but also to understand pain; to inspire us to action, and to spur us on when we start to lose hope; to lift us up out of our daily existence - even if it's just for a few moments - and return us with hearts that are a little bit bigger and fuller than they were before."

Musical performances by bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding and jazz pianist Eric Lewis were sprinkled throughout the evening, which also featured young slam-poetry champions Joshua Bennett and Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio. Bennett performed his poem about his older sister who was born deaf, and Osorio wrestled with her identity as she seeks to know more about her family's traditional Hawaiian heritage. Both Bennett and Osorio are winners of the Brave New Voices slam poetry championships sponsored by Youth Speaks and presented by the U.S. cable television network HBO, which plans to broadcast the White House poetry jam in the future. (See "Poetry Slams Build Confidence, Promote Free Speech ( http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2009/May/20090513163051bcreklaW0.9801905.html&distid=ucs )."

The poetry jam was part of the president's effort to invite people from different backgrounds to the White House to share their stories and speak their minds, Mrs. Obama said. "It is one thing for people to tell their stories in their own spaces, and quite another for those stories to be welcomed in this space."

The United States has a long history of supporting the arts both within schools and in public spaces. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which was established in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, funds programs that bring the arts to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities and military bases. For example, the annual Poetry Out Loud competition, co-sponsored by the NEA and the Poetry Foundation, involves more than 1,500 secondary schools and 300,000 students from around the United States, including the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, who participate in the national poetry recitation contest. Poetry competitions tap into the natural enthusiasm of teens, said Patrice Walker Powell, acting chairman of the NEA. (See "Poetry as Oral Art Form Builds on Popularity of Slam Poetry, Rap ( http://www.america.gov/st/educ-english/2009/May/20090501165911bcreklaW0.3078577.html?CP.rss=true ).")

Other spoken word performances at the White House poetry jam included the rich baritone voice of the legendary James Earl Jones, who filled the room with the words of William Shakespeare's Othello, and the rap stylings of the young Lin-Manuel Miranda from his calypso-inspired Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights. The comedic dialogue between husband-and-wife authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman contemplated the power of words to remove obstacles and break down barriers.

The poetry jam followed a morning meeting at the White House bringing together community arts groups from such places as Appalachia, New York City's Harlem neighborhood, Los Angeles and the Midwest region of the United States to find ways to collaborate on arts programs.

Artists express the joys and hardships of life and remind us how much we have in common with each other, President Obama said.

Additional information on the poetry jam ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Poetry-Music-and-Spoken-Word/ ) is available on the White House Web site.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)