“How are you doing?”….”How are you doing, REALLY?”  The first question we ask each other on a daily basis out of habit.  It’s an automatic conversation starter for most.  But, the second is the follow-up question that has also become more common since COVID-19 swept across the country and beyond.  The isolation, fear and even the political divide that have all been a direct result of the pandemic have had significant effects on our mental health and continue to more than a year and a half later.  And for most of us, the answer to the second question have often is not a positive one.  We’ve heard the response “Surviving”  or “Struggling” quite frequently.

How Do We Deal with These Feelings?

So how have we dealt with these feelings we’ve been having?  For spoken word artists and creative artists, the answer is easy….write, create, express yourself through your art.  There is therapeutic value in this process.  Writers can find an escape from reality by creating a world completely unique to our own, or they can verbalize their true feelings by stream of consciousness writing or just by putting their feelings down in prose.  Not even a pandemic can prevent us from utilizing storytelling as way to release our emotions.

Spoken word artists take that craft and verbalize it, further expressing their feelings with tone and emotion that can’t be felt on paper.  The poetic performance art of the spoken word is one of the most captivating forms of poetry. You get a chance to really feel what the artist is feeling as they perform their art form live. Have you tried your hand at it?  Ever consider hosting or attending an Open Mic (they’re not just limited to musicians, you know?)

Our entertainment booking agency, Neon Entertainment, would love to help you provide an opportunity for students on your campus to improve their mental wellness thought poetic expression.  To offer them a creative outlet to deal with all of the emotions that can be overwhelming at times.  One where they can realize that their mental state is not taboo as they listen to their peers and our spoken word professionals share their own mindsets, and are encouraged to do the same.  Resulting in better campus wellness.

Gabriel Ramirez

Gabriel Ramirez is a Queer Afro-Latinx poet, activist, and teaching artist. Gabriel has received fellowships from The Conversation Literary Arts Festival, Palm Beach Poetry Festival, The Watering Hole, CantoMundo and was a participant of the Callaloo Writers Workshop. Gabriel has performed on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, United Nations, Lincoln Center, Apollo Theatre, and other venues & universities around the nation. Gabriel was featured in Huffington Post, VIBE Magazine, Blavity, Upworthy, The Flama, and Remezcla. You can find his work in various spaces, including Youtube, and in publications like The Volta, Split This Rock, Winter Tangerine, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, VINYL, and in Bettering American Poetry Anthology (Bettering Books 2017), What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (Northwestern University Press 2019) and The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT (Haymarket Press 2020).

Aman Batra

With her work being published and featured on All Def Poetry, Button Poetry, Vibe, BeSe, and The Huffington Post, Aman Batra has been making a name for herself for several years. She had a TedX Talk published earlier this year. She has even been published in the Los Angeles Press and LA County Arts Commission. Aman graduated from UCLA with a BA in Creative Writing. Starting out doing her live poetry in small coffee shops, now she is doing large events at prestigious colleges like UCLA. Offering a great college event experience, she is one of the most sought after artists in the spoken word environment.

Lady Caress

Lady Caress is a public speaker and poet with over 10 years of experience in mastering her art. That is an understatement though. Being a nationally known artist, she has a very unique style of comedy, music, theatrics, and even beatboxing in her performances. She is even the 2010 National Poetry Champion at Pi Kappa Delta, and is not afraid to step out of her selected realm of spoken word and performances. Winning numerous awards over the years she is a top choice for a spoken word speaker at your college.

The great thing about all these artists is that they are part of Neon Entertainments’ spoken word roster. The spoken word is a brilliant way to help young adults and college students engage with their peers. Also, giving them a chance to see how this form of expression impacts other people. The is college event is one of importance and shares how powerful someone’s voice can be. The best campus event ideas come from Neon Entertainment. We offer the most unique form of entertainment which educates just as much.