(A)LIVE x Sudie Williams 23-24

(A)LIVE is an out-of-school time, hub-based poetry and performance program for 4th-12th grade students in DFW. It focuses on enhancing students' interpersonal skills while sparking their unique creativity and empowering and equipping them to Create Great. (A)LIVE turns open classrooms and community centers into literary science labs where youth can explore the complexity of words and themselves for twice-weekly 90-minute sessions.

This program is made possible by passionate, local poets who use “Art is Healing” as their curriculum focus, promoting original and transparent moments of written expression from our youth. (A)LIVE campuses are connected with one or more SEL-trained professional poetry artists who work directly with participating youth to create their pieces. The original pieces created by youth at each campus are showcased at bi-annual, youth-led poetry slams, in which (A)LIVE youth from different programming hubs across the metroplex are brought together to share their work with their community. Through this experience, students engage with other artistic disciplines and develop a network with those outside of their respective campuses while immersing in the arts. (A)LIVE aims to achieve the following:

• Address the social and interpersonal deficits that exist for incarcerated and rehabilitating youth, encouraging them to channel their inner voice and creativity through healthy expression
• Cultivate an environment for students to strengthen their proficiency in writing and public speaking as the Creators of tomorrow
• Encourage youth to practice responsible decision-making, self-regulation, empathy, and relationship-building alongside their peers