Arts & Entertainment

Underserved Youth Find Serenity Within Artistic Safe Haven

Tayllor Johnson, 22, has performed many pieces of spoken word at the White House, yet, nothing beats the feeling that engulfed her as she stepped foot onto the stage of the Nuyorican Poets Café.

“This is the Nuyorican Poets café, so it’s a pretty big deal to be performing in this space for me,” said Johnson. “This is a whole new level.”

Daniel Gallant, 39, executive director of the Nuyorican Poets Café, says the institution was created outside of the mainstream of contemporary and commercial art. Gallant said the café, founded by Miguel Algarin in 1973, helped launch the art form that is “poetry slam”. Its history is comprised of many artists from different minority backgrounds who found it extremely difficult to exhibit their craft in the outside world due to racial, social, and economical hindrances.

“These were artists who because of their ethnicity, because of the language they spoke, because of the subject matter they addressed, or because of their income level and education level, were for various reasons not accepted or welcomed into the halls of academia or could not be easily published by commercial media,” said Gallant.

The café represented a gathering for outsiders, giving these artists the opportunity to collaborate with other poets and perform their work in front of audiences.

The café is still a place for those to perform, although, they’ve now broadened their reach to the youth. They offer many different events in hopes of encouraging kids to utilize the facility as a way to communicate their thoughts through their talents without fear of being ridiculed.

“We encourage students from junior high all the way to graduate school to attend our events,” said Gallant. “We do a lot of writing and performing workshops in centers, libraries, theaters, and museums. We also have many open mic nights open to all ages. As well as tours and presentations of our space at schools and for school groups.”

Gallant said that the café also looks closely at their communities all over the country, but more specifically their immediate community, to determine who can truly benefit from the work that they offer.

“A large percentage of the audience we seek to serve are individuals who don’t otherwise have access to high quality art education or resources, which includes literary workshops and seminars to help students,” said Gallant. “We want to do what we can with our resources with a combo of our space, our name, our artists and their collective experience to be able to help students.”

Outside of hosting their events, the café sponsors and lends their space to many youth programs around the five boroughs. Building Knowledge Nation (BK Nation) is one of the programs who hosts events in the space. It’s a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and promoting youth to express themselves whether it be through art, spoken word, singing, or dancing.

Youth Truth, a program for youth within BK Nation, performs four times a year around New York City and the United States. The program also conducts youth leadership developments and mentorship work to ensure violence prevention.

“We really feel that if we’re going to move forward in this country and feel very serious about the challenges our country is facing, we have to engage young people, so we’re really big on creating safe spaces like Youth Truth,” said Kevin Powell, 49, cofounder of BK nation.

BK Nation’s Youth Truth event was held at The Nuyorican Poets Café on Thursday, July 16th. A variety of artistic youth showcased their talents and audience members, ages 22 and under, were asked to stand on stage and speak their thoughts about the world during small breaks between acts. Tayllor Johnson, 22, a poet, and Qaasim Middleton, 19, a former American Idol finalist, both performed original pieces.

Middleton said that the loving energy at the Nuyorican Poets Café has convinced him to come back and perform after singing for his father’s release party that was held at the café.

“It’s a great venue,” said Middleton. “It’s dope because you don’t normally see a lot of artistic kids in one room, unless it’s in a performing arts school.”

Johnson said that performing at the Nuyorican Poets Café encouraged her to “step her game up”.

“A lot of famous people have come out of this space,” said Johnson. “A lot of influential poets have come out of this space. A lot of inspiration has come out of this space. This is no small space.”

Powell believes that the Nuyorican Poets Café is a safe space for adolescents to express themselves with zero judgment.

“I feel like most of the things the café does [are] for young people,” said Powell. “I’ve seen plays there [that are] set around young people. Just two weeks ago, Urban Word NYC, a youth poetry group of 7,000 young people around the city, had a huge event at the Nuyorican Poets Café for middle school students.”

Located on east 3rd street in the Lower East side of Manhattan, stands the small building covered in artistic murals. According to Point2homes.com, the Lower East Side is above the national average for total crime, murder, robbery, assault, and personal crime risk. There is also a large amount of residents that have not received a high school level education. The location of the café reiterates the “safe haven” quality it exudes by creating a place for an abundance of people to communicate all of their thoughts, unpopular or not.

Gallant said that it is generally known that art and community based activities help students from at-risk areas channel their energy in different ways. Middleton had similar views.

“It allows for the kids to get off the streets and allows for them to appreciate one another,” said Middleton. “When you don’t find different channels or ways to express yourself, you start to feel trapped within yourself. No matter what it is as long as you find a vein to express yourself, you’ll be fine.”

Gallant hopes the café will help kids stay off of the street.

“There are a number of studies that show that kids who take part in arts activities at a young age are less likely to end up in jail and engage in violence,” said Gallant. “These trends are apart of why the café does what it does for the youth.”

The Nuyorican Poets Café serves to connect with audiences and students that are often underserved.

“I think we need to have more spaces like the Nuyorican Poets Café for young people all over the country,” said Powell. “It’s an important space for the youth. It’s healing.”

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