Canto-Kójo Anniversary Open Mic

We're gathering like sunflowers for the one-year anniversary of Canto-Kójo! Your co-hosts Itiola and Yazud know that when sunflowers can't face the sun, they face each other. Come gather at Canto-Kójo--where we sing, spit, and share our sunlight with one another.

Bring a poem, a song, a short story, or anything else that's on your mind+heart for our monthly Canto-Kójo open mic and reading session, with this month's featured artists BAMF BRATT and Tara Betts! Beginners and veterans alike are welcome and encouraged!

BAMF BRAT was born to two Mexican immigrant parents in Chicago and raised in Michoacan Mexico. The art he creates is heavily influenced by the many cultures and lifestyles he grew up with in the Albany Park community. Declared a renaissance man by many, he is an artist who is made by the people for the people.

Tara Betts is the author of the poetry collections Refuse to Disappear, Break the Habit, and Arc & Hue. In addition to her work as a teaching artist with young poets, she has taught at several universities and at Stateville Prison via the Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project. Tara served the Inaugural Poet for the People Practitioner Fellow at University of Chicago. She currently teaches at DePaul University in Peace Studies and the Solstice MFA program, but she started teaching with Gallery 37 and Young Chicago Authors, where she co-founded GirlSpeak and helped start Louder Than A Bomb poetry slam. She is a Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award winner and she represented Chicago twice at the National Poetry Slam. Her poems, essays, and stories appears in numerous journals and anthologies.