Brave New Voices

INTRODUCING OUR 2026 FUTURE CORPS CO-DIRECTORS!

The Future Corps at Brave New Voices is an elite cohort of alumni, artists, and educators who serve as the “Culture Keepers” of the festival. They act as mentors to competing teams, facilitate workshops, and energize the event with powerful collaborative performances.

Our Future Corps Directors this year are none other than Vania Gutierrez and Durmerrick Ross! Tap in with Future Corps and some of the nation’s best youth poets at Brave New Voices.

Get your tickets to this year’s Brave New Voices Festival happening this summer in the Bay Area!

Brave New Voices
July 15-18, Bay Area
bravenewvoices.org

SpokenWord PoetryCommunity

We are one month out from BRAVE NEW VOICES, the largest youth poetry festival of it’s kind. This summer, hundreds of young poets from across the country and around the world will gather not only to compete, but to build community, share stories, and imagine futures together.

Tickets are available now via the link in our bio or on bravenewvoices.org!

Brave New Voices
July 15-18, Bay Area
bravenewvoices.org

SpokenWord PoetryCommunity

Behind every unforgettable Brave New Voices Festival is a team of visionaries working tirelessly to create a space where young poets can be heard, celebrated, and transformed.

This year, we’re honored to introduce our 2026 Festival Directors, Jax Neal and Chloe Philpot.
As artists, educators, organizers, and champions of youth voice, Jax and Chloe bring a deep commitment to the power of poetry as a tool for connection, liberation, and change. Their leadership is helping shape a generational gathering where hundreds of young people from across the country can share their stories, sharpen their craft, build community, and step fully into their power.

Brave New Voices has always been more than a poetry festival—it’s a movement. For over two decades, it has brought together the next generation of truth-tellers, cultural workers, and changemakers. Jax and Chloe are carrying that legacy forward while imagining new possibilities for what youth poetry can be.

Join us in celebrating the leaders helping bring BNV 2026 to life. 💛

SpokenWord PoetryCommunity

ALL POWER TO THE POETS.
This year’s Brave New Voices theme draws inspiration from the rallying cry “All Power to the People,” first popularized by the Black liberation movements of the 1960s and the Oakland-born Black Panther Party.

The phrase was never just about power. It was about self-determination. Community care. Political imagination. The belief that ordinary people deserve the resources, platforms, and freedom to shape the world around them.

There is no better place for this gathering than the Bay Area, a region with a long history of cultural resistance, grassroots organizing, and movements that have changed the world. From Oakland to San Francisco and across the Bay, generations have fought to ensure that those most impacted have the power to speak for themselves.

Brave New Voices continues that legacy.
This summer, hundreds of young poets from across the country and around the world will gather not only to compete, but to build community, share stories, and imagine futures together. Because poetry is more than performance. It is a tool for liberation. A practice of truth-telling. A way of getting free.

Now more than ever, we need stages that make room for young people. We need spaces where their voices are trusted, amplified, and celebrated.

All Power to the Poets.
The mic is theirs.

Get your tickets to Brave New Voices 2026 by using the link in our bio or visiting bravenewvoices.org

YouthPoetry Oakland BayAreaArts

REGISTER YOUR TEAM FOR BRAVE NEW VOICES by May 15th! Don’t miss your chance to compete at this monumental youth poetry festival. You can register via the link in our bio, or at bravenewvoices.org

THERE’S STILL TIME TO REGISTER YOUR TEAM FOR BRAVE NEW VOICES!

Registration is open for 2026 Brave New Voices in the Bay Area!

Don’t miss your chance to compete at this monumental youth poetry festival. Registration link in bio or at bravenewvoices.org

Youth Speaks works to ensure our performance spaces are accessible to youth and our community at low or no-cost by significantly subsidizing our ticket prices. Brave New Voices is our annual youth poetry festival and this year, it’s happening in The Bay!

If you’re interested in supporting our youth and sponsoring our Brave New Voices poetry festival, visit our website at youthspeaks.org/support or contact Paola at [email protected]

Want to compete at Brave New Voices?! Team registration for the 2026 Brave New Voices Festival in the Bay Area has been extended!

Be part of the world’s largest youth poetry festival and national slam, where powerful young voices from across the globe come together to perform, connect, and compete for the Brave New Voices Championship. Over four unforgettable days, participants take part in writing workshops, professional development sessions, showcases, service learning opportunities, and high-energy slam competitions.

The new deadline to apply is May 15, 2026, don’t miss your chance! Apply now through the link in our bio. Questions about your application or the BNV process? Reach out to us at [email protected].