Word Travels’ programs create deeper inter-cultural understanding and social cohesion through the following cycle of transformation:
EXPERIENCE
THURSDAY: A large audience watches a great writer perform in their local community.
LEARN
FRIDAY: 20 members of the community learn to perform their writing in our workshop.
TRY
SATURDAY: Workshop participants perform their own writing in a slam; a public event where the audience chooses two new artists to receive further professional development.
DO
ONGOING: Word Travels hires new artists to perform their writing and run workshops in communities every year.
This sharing of new writing leads to conversations like this: “Ahmad I’ve never heard you speak like that,” says Ahmad’s neighbour after the slam in Kempsey, NSW.
Our cathartic process sparks EMPATHY, UNDERSTANDING and CURIOSITY across diverse communities.
Word Travels presents PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS, TRAINING and EMPLOYMENT with new, emerging and established writers.
WE GO WHERE THERE IS MOST NEED AND BRING THE MIC.
IMPACT
We inspire, empower and hire people from DIVERSE DEMOGRAPHICS – economic, cultural, education, gender, geographic, sexuality and ability – to share their live and recorded stories.
40K
STUDENTS PERFORMING
245
paid arts workers
19k
new artists performing in professional events
8.2 million
AUDIENCE REACH
TARGET IMPACT
As a result of our upcoming programs 1,230 WRITERS across Australia and the Asia Pacific will be paid over 2024–2028.
Many of these will feature in 760 EVENTS.
52 will be MENTORED to present workshops, perform and host events.
Over 71% will be YOUNG, INDIGENOUS, CALD, LGBTQI or all of the above.
A mixture of multiple diverse regional and urban communities, all pushing the question to the fore: How do we tell powerful stories? How to get these to the world?