Haitian-American powerhouse Lenelle Moïse comes to us for the second year in a row to lead this year's SpeakOut program. Lenelle is an award-winning poet, playwright, essayist, composer and nationally touring performance artist based in Northampton, MA. She creates intimate, fiery, politicized, texts about the intersection of race, class, gender, sexuality, spirituality, culture and resistance. Her hip-hop bred, jazz-infused delivery is at once conversational and polished. Fueled by the motto “Words rouse worlds,” she regularly presents interactive performances and workshops that empower diverse groups of people to creatively speak up and act for social change. Equipped with an MFA from Smith College, Moïse has been a guest artist at the United Nations, the Culture Project, the Louisiana Superdome, the Omega Institute and dozens of theatres, colleges and conferences across the United States and Canada. Her critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play Expatriate inspired her second CD The Expatriate Amplification Project.

During her residency, Lenelle Moïse will lead workshops for students at Miami-Dade public high schools, hosted by individual Gay Straight Alliances/ Safe Schools South Florida and other groups. The public high schools involved include Northwestern Senior, Dr. Michael M. Krop and North Miami Beach Senior. Other workshops will take place at the Miami Arts Charter school and Pridelines. SpeakOut workshops train LGBTQ youth in writing and speaking skills within a medium that blends poetry, theater and hip hop culture and also provides opportunities for LGBTQ teens to perform their work.

The youth component of the residency culminates in a SpeakOut Open Mic and Slam for GLBT teens, hosted by Lenelle Moïse at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, on Thursday, February 9. This is an opportunity for teens to read and perform their poetry. There is no charge to attend but each participant must be under 21-years old and material must be gay friendly. No reservations are needed. Those interested in the Open Mic and Slam register at the event between 5:00 and 6:00pm at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens. For more information on all youth events, return to this page after January 22 or call 305 324 4337.

Finally, Lenelle will read and perform her writings and poetry on Friday, February 10 at 8:00 pm, at Books & Books, Coral Gables. This event is free and open to the general public.

The SpeakOut program and Lenelle Moïse residency is made possible in part by Books & Books, ES Moore Family Foundation, Miami Dade Public Schools, The Miami Foundation, Miami River Inn, Safe Schools of South Florida and Wells Fargo. Additional support comes from Benjamin Hein and the other generous individuals who made donations through Power2Give, with matching funds from the Knight Foundation. Tigertail is a NPN Partner of the National Performance Network (NPN). This project is made possible in part by support from the NPN Performance Residency Program. Major contributors to the National Performance Network include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), the MetLife Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. For more information visit www.npnweb.org.

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.