Hullabaloo is the BC High School Slam Championship. The idea has been around for a while, but a concrete plan to get it started was conceived by Spillious, RC Weslowski and myself in the summer of 2010. It is a component and natural outgrowth of the WordPlay program. The poetry workshops that have been conducted in schools since 2005 by WordPlay has laid the foundation for Hullabaloo, hand-in-hand by the last three years of building the Youth Slam.
The first Hullabaloo happened in April 2011. It featured several collaborations, which were both fruitful and necessary. Necessary because we ran the tournament on a bare bones budget, and fruitful because of the connections in promotion and development that our collaborations created. Finals Night was run in collaboration with The Cultch's IGNITE! Youth Arts Festival, specifically its Word night. The finals of Hullabaloo became the second half of the Word night.
We also worked in conjunction with Brad Cunningham and Jeremy Loveday in Victoria who organized a Victoria championship. They had a bout with 6 teams and the winner gained a spot in the Finals Night at The Cultch. Three other semi-final bouts were held in Vancouver, two at Café Deux Soleils and one at the Vancouver Art Gallery (who became a very enthusiastic supporter and wrote us an amazing reference letter). The winner of each semi-final advanced to Finals Night at The Cultch along with the winner of the Victoria semi-final. In the end, Reynolds Secondary from Victoria became the first Hullabaloo champ. 12 teams participated in the Vancouver semi-finals including one from Squamish and one from Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island. Overall, there were 18 teams and 13 different BC municipalities represented. Not bad for an inaugural year.
While organizing Hullabaloo 2011, we also successfully applied to Telus' Community Investment Board for a donation. They have contributed $20,000 to the budget of Hullabaloo 2012. This is a donation, not a sponsorship.
Hullabaloo 2012 will occur April 9–14, 2012. A full tournament is planned, including 2 days of preliminary bouts, semi-finals, finals, workshops and more. We are planning for between 16–24 teams. So far 11 teams have registered, which is good for this point in the year. I expect we'll have at least 16 teams the way things are developing.
Please spread the word about Hullabaloo, and help us sign up more schools! You can find all the information you need (or wish to pass on) at:
http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/word-play/hullabalooIf you want physical brochures, we have them. I will bring them to every slam, just ask me for a few copies. They are also put out at the door. They include information about WordPlay and the Youth Slam as well.
