Words are powerful tools for self-expression and for changing the world. WordSpeak, a project for teens, includes workshops, slams and performances in a Miami residency by Josh Healey. Oakland-based Healey is a spoken word poet, writer, community organizer, arts educator and comedic powerhouse. He comes to Miami to launch the seventh year of Tigertail's WordSpeak, an ongoing spoken word program for South Florida teens. Healey will be in Miami from March 19 to 23, 2012 for a residency that includes school and community-based workshops and readings.

A cultural activist, Healey has shared stages and picket lines with Amiri Baraka, Naomi Klein, and Flavor Flav – before the reality show. He is the author of the poetry collection Hammertime (OMAI/First Wave Press). Born and raised in Washington, DC, Healey has performed and led artistic and activist workshops at universities, high schools, and conferences across the country. He is the co-founder of the First Wave program at the University of Wisconsin, the first college hip-hop arts program in the nation. Healey has been featured in The New York Times, on NPR, and on Al-Jazeera. He has shared his work at UC-Berkeley, Harvard, the National Poetry Slam, the Wisconsin Book Festival, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the Arab Cultural Center. Healey is the recent Youth Development Program Director of the nationally recognized, San Francisco-based youth literacy organization Youth Speaks and was key staff for Brave New Voices, the annual Olympics of spoken word.

During his residency week, Josh Healey will perform and lead workshops for students at DASH, Miami Arts Charter and Miami Northwestern Senior, among others. These WordSpeak events provide Miami teens the opportunity to learn more about spoken word as a way to express themselves, in an appealing medium that blends poetry, theater and hip hop culture.

Josh Healey's Miami visit includes an exciting WordSpeak open mic and slam for teens led by Josh and South Florida-based guest artists at the at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach, on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 6:00 to 8:30 pm. A second open mic and slam will take place at the same location, Thursday, March 29 at 6:00pm led by Teo Castellanos. This is an opportunity for teens from 13 to 19 years old to read and perform their poetry in front of an audience. The slam is the first in a series of competitions to win a place on the Miami team sponsored by Tigertail Productions that will travel to the San Francisco Bay area this summer for the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. "This team has helped me grow spiritually and intellectually. I'm surrounded by geniuses with diverse personalities and they all have a way with pushing you to be greater than you already are. Tigertail and WordSpeak were selling a dream and I bought it with poetry. I am forever grateful," said Giovanni Garced, a 2011 WordSpeak team member.

Josh Healey will also give a reading and perform free for the general public at the Coral Gables Books & Books, 265 Aragon Avenue, on Friday, March 23 at 8:00 pm.

Read more about Josh Healey at joshhealey.org

Targeted support for WordSpeak and the Josh Healey residency comes from Books & Books, The Children's Trust, E.S. Moore Family Foundation, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council, Miami Dade Public Library, Miami Dade Public Schools, Miami River Inn and Publix Super Markets Charities.

Tigertail's 2011/2012 Season is made possible by community partners and supporters including: Aquarius Press; Albion Hotel, Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation; Biscayne Times; Books & Books; Bresaro Suites; The Children's Trust; City of Coral Gables Cultural Arts Program; City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; Consulate General of Brazil; Consulate General of the Netherlands; E.S. Moore Family Foundation; Florida Dance Association; Funding Arts Network; The Galler Group; Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau; John S. & James L. Knight Foundation; JPMorgan Chase; MiamiARTzine.com; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Miami-Dade County Public Library; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Miami River Inn; Miami Salon Group; National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, supported by lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, with additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Community Connections Fund of the Metlife Foundation, and the Boeing Company Charitable Trust; National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network with major funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria, MetLife Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation; Pridelines; Publix Super Markets Charities; Safe Schools South Florida; Sain-Orr Royak DeForest Steadman Foundation; The Law Office of Linda M. Smith; Sleepless Night; South Arts; State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; The Miami Foundation; VSA Florida; Vortex Communications; WDNA & WLRN FM; Wells Fargo and our many private supporters.