ManYouScripts

PROJECT BONES: The Man-You-Scripts at this phase of my life is the outcome of my human experience, love for story telling and years working in the youth sector. 

Often you'll find me with my heart falling from my mouth, for a young Maori boy who grew up tough, in a state home, with five brothers and one sister during the late eighties and early ninties, you can imagine I was at times alienated for my poetic use of words, unless of course it was inside a rap cypher or being presented competitively on stage. When I say a "tough" life, I mean to say a home full of domestic violence (there it is falling from my mouth) as kids, it left a dormant chip in our shoulders and buried trauma deep in our minds that would later reveal itself into teenage-hood and adulthood. 

For me, this is why words are so important, without them I would've never been able to articulate the storms of my mind as a young man, to express and reflect the pains of my past, to find breathing room and seperate myself from a narrative that had begun to shape me in ways I never wanted as a man. By sharing my innerworkings out loud, by deeply crafting my articulations the world around me changed, and with it came the opportunity to course the life I choose.

PROJECT: 

This understanding sits at the core of the Man-You-Scripts, a program designed to teach young men how to express their realities out loud. To use words to seek out and build brotherhoods that ascend our maturity as men. By embracing componants of cultural intelligence and using the emerging artform of spoken word as a vehicle, my hope is to embed poetry into the corners of my community, deep into the realities of the young men who live there. 

Phase one, is simply a 14 week writing and performance program embedded in schools, kura kaupapa, P.T.E and alternative education sites. I will facilitate extensive spoken word workshops and provide mentoring for young men aged 15 -25 to experience spoken word and craft their own stories to be presented on stage, online and published. 

WHY I NEED YOUR SUPPORT:

I've recently been awarded the Indigenous Storytellers and Spoken Word Residency in BANFF, Alberta Canada, a three week residency scheduled for 03/03/2019 - 24/03/2019. To be immersed in a cultural paradigm, learning ancient forms of storytelling is undoubtedly a dream for me. Essentially I need support to travel, but deeper than that is to go with my heart, mind and spirit stretched open, to fill my cup with tools I beleive will reach into our young men here in New Zealand and inspire a necessary dialogue to begin.  

Nga Mihi Nui  

Michael.