culture
IS HERE
The
Official Mission Statement
To build a foundation for poets to serve their community with their craft by encouraging healthy discourse, Empowering Youth, loving people, and spitting bars.
Slam connection is an organization dedicated to spurring people to community action through the medium of spoken Word and slam poetry. Slam connection pushes for diversity, education, and healthy discourse for all age groups.
Meet the Founder
Lacroy "Atlas" Nixon
Lacroy “Atlas” Nixon was born in Charlotte, NC, and raised in Williamsburg, VA. He earned his bachelor's degree in graphic design from Liberty University and has been writing/performing spoken word poetry for eight years. He currently is on the executive board for the Writers Guild of Virginia, is a current member of the poetry, society of Virginia, has a book available entitled “God and his humor”, and is an artist with the Hope Booth Movement (A world-changing initiative that toured across 19 cities in the United States in March 2022, debuted in London, UK in October 2021). The Hope booth re-purposes, old telephone booths into three minute interactive, immersive experiences that combine art and technology to produce messages of hope in a conversational format.
He has opened up for artists including John Givez, Aklesso, KHAM, and was featured in an open mic by Genetics. He recently became the 2023 verb benders grand slam champion and is on The verb benders slam poetry team which is currently the number five slam poetry team in the United States. He founded Slam Connection in Williamsburg to help people of all ages express themselves through slam poetry while also connecting them to the community. In addition to poetry, he was also an educator through the Child Defense Fund Freedom School program for two years as a servant leader intern and a site coordinator. He loves Jesus and hopes to inspire people to be the best version of themselves Through arts and self expression.
What we do
Push Self Expression
Slam Connection prides itself on quality of community and content. Slam connection firmly believes that every person no matter who they are, or where they come from, has a story to tell, and brings value by their existence. We also believe that there should be spaces for people to expressed themselves in a healthy manner. From this philosophy comes our open mic nights, and our workshops
Empower Youth
Slam connection is passionate about inspiring. The next generation of creative writers and poets. And we are currently pushing to have branches and all of the Williamsburg high schools. we are also pushing for youth Slam competitions in the greater Williamsburg area.
Encourage Healthy Discourse
Slam connection cares very deeply about creating a space where people can learn from each other and be made privy to different ideas and beliefs that they may not always have a voice in day-to-day living. We want to make sure that all of our spaces are inclusive and diverse.
Engage the Community
While slam connection pushes for excellence in performing arts, we plan to use all of our skills and talents as catalyst for community action and change. This is where the tagline “love people, spit bars” comes from.
