Our weekly teen open mic, FIRST DRAFT takes place every Wednesday. Founded on the belief that teenagers can and must speak for themselves, Urban Word NYC™ (UW) is one of the oldest and most comprehensive youth literary arts organizations in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, Urban Word and its national community of poets, activists, and educators, has built and continues to lead th
e youth spoken word movement. UW presents literary arts education and youth development programs in the areas of creative writing, college prep, literature and hip-hop. We provide FREE, safe and uncensored writing workshops to teens year round, host the Annual NYC Teen Poetry Slam, a weekly open mic, the NYC Youth Poet Laureate Fellowship, Black Girl Magic Fellowship, and more. Urban Word annually serves more than 25,000 NYC youth between the ages of 13 and 19 through its local and school-based programming efforts, and thousands of youth through its national programs including the National Youth Poet Laureate Program, its signature model for youth poetry and civic engagement replicated in communities across the country. UW also has a vigorous community educator and teacher training series which links inquiry-based classroom practices with the most progressive academic trends in student-centered pedagogy.
