About the Capital Poetry Collective

The Capital Poetry Collective (CPC) is a group of dedicated volunteers who are supporters and/or practitioners of spoken word poetry. The aim and practice of the Collective is “to produce series, showcases and artistic initiatives that advance the awareness of and interest in performance poetry in the National Capital Region.”

In 2004, a group of poets put together a national spoken word festival, then called the Wordlympics (the name has changed to the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word since then, both for clarity and to avoid any identity confusion with the Olympics). The 2004 edition of the festival was held in Ottawa and was an important point, inspirationally, for spoken word in the city.

Two participants in the festival, Greg Frankson and Ellisa Molino, felt that inspiration enough that they wanted to start a regular show to spotlight spoken word in the community. Rather than creating the show alone, they recruited others to form the Capital Poetry Collective.

The early days of the Collective saw the creation of a single monthly show that ran ten months a year. It spotlighted local poets and gave a stage for spoken word artists who otherwise had very few options.

As time passed, the Capital Poetry Collective became one of the most important venues for spoken word in the city. From humble origins, holding shows in small pubs and coffee houses, to regular sold-out shows at venues like the Mercury Lounge and the Alumni Auditorium at the University of Ottawa, the growth of spoken word in the city has been extraordinary.

In 2006, Frankson stepped away from the Collective (though his expertise is still called on as an advisor) and Danielle K.L. Gregoire took over as director.

The next year and a half was marked with even more growth as Gregoire was very talented at finding untapped artists who just needed a place to develop their creativity. She ran workshops and brought the poets out to smaller communities around the city, like Almonte and Carleton Place.

At the start of 2008, Gregoire moved to Almonte (where she would continue her artistic-advocacy), and Nathanael Larochette took over as director.

It was also during this time that the Collective expanded to a year-round schedule as well as running multiple shows regularly every month.

Ottawanow hosts one of the largest spoken word communities in Canada(possibly second only toVancouver).

 

 

Capital Slam and the Capital Poetry Collective have been instrumental to the growth of spoken word in the region, and part of the growth that has occurred nationwide.

The series was a jumping off point for great artists who have gone on to successful careers in the field, such as: John Akpata, Kevin Matthews, DJ Morales (aka Vocab), Greg Frankson (aka Ritallin), Faye Estrella (aka Festrell), Jim Thomas, Will Felepchuk (aka Free Will), Nathanael Larochette (aka Sir Realist), Mehdi Hamdad, Rusty Priske, Suhaib Agial (aka Marcus Jameel), Komi Olafimihan (aka Poetic Speed), Ikenna Onyegbula (aka OpenSecret), Ian Keteku (aka Emcee E), Brandon Wint, Chris Tse and many more.

 

The quality of spoken word coming out of the scene has built to the point that a group of five of those poets (now known as the Recipe) were crowned the Canadian National Slam Champions in 2009, and a different set of poets from Capital Slam took the laurels in 2010.

 

In addition to individual poets, a number of other poetry series and scenes have grown out of Capital Slam and the Capital Poetry Collective. The Lanark County Live Poetry Society (who formed the first ‘rural’ team to go the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word) was founded by former CPC Director, Danielle K.L. Gregoire. The Oneness Poetry Showcase was started by former Capital Slam Champion, Free Will. The Bill Brown1-2-3Slam was started by CPC Founder, Greg ‘Ritallin’ Frankson. Voices of Venus was co-founded by CPC Team Member, Festrell. Urban Legends was founded by former Capital Slam Champion Marcus Jameel.

 

Two different members of the CPC community (Greg Frankson and Kevin Matthews) have sat as Director of Spoken WordCanada (aka SpoCan) as well as other key positions on the SpoCan board.

 

The current Capital Slam ‘Slammaster’, Rusty Priske, and the former CPC Director, Nathanal Larochette, took on those same roles at the National Festival in 2010.

 

While the impact of the Capital Poetry Collective and Capital Slam is far-reaching, their biggest influence can be felt much more locally. Twice a month, anyone can walk into the Mercury Lounge and see the excitement and energy that fills the room when the Capital Poetry Collective turns the stage and the microphone over to poetry. Even in a city that supports the arts like Ottawa does, the idea of 100+ people packing a room to see poets share their work comes as a surprise to many people, yet that is what happens, month after month.

 

The Capital Poetry Collective provides the space and the atmosphere to encourage creativity and allow burgeoning artists to express themselves. On any given night there could be a fifteen year-old stepping on the stage for the first time, a retiree discovering and sharing a new love of poetry, or the reigning Canadian National Slam Champions strutting their stuff.

 

The Capital Poetry Collective is a crucial building block both in regards to the history and the future of spoken word in Ottawa and nationally.