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Johnny MacRae

Discipline: Spoken Word
Homebase: Vancouver
Regions Available: Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley &, Howe Sound, Vancouver Island Lower, Vancouver Island Mid, Vancouver Island North, Interior, Kootenays, Virtual
Languages: English
Themes: Mental Health, Climate Change and/or Environmentalism
Grant Eligibility: Eligible to apply for AIC

Johnny MacRae is a spoken word (aka. slam) poet living on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-waututh), and sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) nations. Johnny's a versatile artist whose work ranges from a rap about public transit to quiet reflections on grief, and from evolutionary creation stories to a history of west coast maritime disasters. Since 2010, he has been a featured performer at dozens of poetry series and arts festivals across Turtle Island, both solo and with collaborative acts such as 2 Dope Boys in a Cadillac, Travelin' Word Circus and The Dambassadors. In 2013, he was named Poet of Honour for the Victoria Spoken Word Festival, and in 2017, received the Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award. Having led numerous school residencies, performed dozens of assembly showcases, and given hundreds of classroom workshops, Johnny has the experience and skill to engage even those students who think they hate poetry!


Performance(s)

Johnny's 1-Hour Festival of Words

School Year: 23-24
Discipline: Music, Storytelling, Interdisciplinary, Spoken Word, Writing
Offered Languages: English
Grade Suitability: 6 -
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 800
Tech Requirements: Mic (1-4) and sound system
Available Formats: In Person, Virtual

Lower Mainland
$1,100
Fraser Valley & Howe Sound
$1,300
Vancouver Island Lower
$1,300
Vancouver Island Mid
$1,500
Vancouver Island North
$2,500
Interior
$2,500
North
$0
Remote
$0
Kootenays
$2,750
Virtual
$1,100

Having been Artistic Director of two of Canada's largest spoken word festivals, co-director of BC's youth spoken word festival, Hullabaloo, and director of the country's largest spoken word outreach programs, Johnny has a knack for finding poets who can light up a big room, or make a small one as cozy as your own kitchen. So snaps abound when Johnny 's 1-Hour Festival brings some of the country's most talented, versatile and sensitive performance poets and lyricists to join him for an unforgettable hour of electric wordcraft! This event gives your students a taste of what it's like being at a national spoken word festival, with a rotating cast of artists whose work includes everything from the ridiculous, to the reverent, to the revolutionary. Based on "workshop" stages common at festivals, this event allows students to see artists works living in conversation with one another, with each performer selecting pieces based on a connection to the one the artist before them performed.

Love Your Weird

School Year: 23-24
Discipline: Storytelling, Spoken Word, Writing
Offered Languages: English
Grade Suitability: 8 -
Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 800
Tech Requirements: Mic (1), music stand and sound system
Available Formats: In Person, Virtual

Lower Mainland
$700
Fraser Valley & Howe Sound
$900
Vancouver Island Lower
$900
Vancouver Island Mid
$900
Vancouver Island North
$1,200
Interior
$1,200
North
$0
Remote
$0
Kootenays
$1,500
Virtual
$700

Johnny's unapologetic commitment to his motto "Love your weird" is on full display in a torrent of poetic versatility and personal authenticity that takes a clown-sized sledgehammer to your students’ expectations about what poetry has to be about – or can be about! A poetic rollercoaster through Johnny's ADHD, including everything from a passionate rap about public transit, to a personal reflection on the dark side of automated labor, to a self-effacing critique of consumerism, to a frantic rant about the forthcoming Zamboni apocalypse, "Love Your Weird" demonstrates that poetry can truly be about anything.

Workshop(s)

Animating the World

School Year: 23-24
Discipline: Spoken Word, Writing
Offered Languages: English
Grade Suitability: 5 - 12
Duration: 60-80 minutes
Capacity: 35
Available Formats: In Person

Lower Mainland
$600
Fraser Valley & Howe Sound
$700
Vancouver Island Lower
$700
Vancouver Island Mid
$700
Vancouver Island North
$1,000
Interior
$1,000
North
$0
Remote
$0
Kootenays
$1,200
Virtual
$600

Animating the World gives an overview of a core part of Johnny's practice - adopting an impersonal and/or non-human perspective to shed new light on a presumably known narrative. In this workshop, we'll explore what happens to stories about ourselves when we re-tell them through the eyes of the objects around us. Then we'll look at the untold stories around us, asking questions like: what would the Moon say to NASA? what does the flower feel for the bee? what do the reactions REALLY think about our posts? Rife with creative possibilities, Animating the World opens students senses to a world that's always got something to say.

Poetry Cheat Codes

School Year: 23-24
Discipline: Spoken Word, Writing
Offered Languages: English
Grade Suitability: 5 - 12
Duration: 60-80 minutes
Capacity: 35
Available Formats: In Person, Virtual

Lower Mainland
$600
Fraser Valley & Howe Sound
$700
Vancouver Island Lower
$700
Vancouver Island Mid
$700
Vancouver Island North
$1,000
Interior
$1,000
North
$0
Remote
$0
Kootenays
$1,200
Virtual
$600

Rather than as an inspired act of special poetic genius, "Poetry Cheat Codes" explores composition of metaphors and poems as an act of recording sensory information from the sort of everyday observations we often take for granted. Johnny works from a foundational exercise that engages students in creating metaphors from personal observations until they have unwittingly created a simple spoken word poem exploring a concept or emotion of their choice.

Classroom Residency(ies)

Contact Me: (604) 928-3673, Email, Web

CollaboWRITE!

School Year: 23-24

Poetry can be a team sport! Over the course of this residency, students will learn how to collaboratively create and perform poems or stories. We'll work through different approaches to collaborating on crafting poems, from a modified version of exquisite corpse, to swapping and retelling stories, to writing with shared prompts. More than just learning techniques for composing with a partner or partners, our focus on spoken word will lead us to looking at ways of using multiple voices in performance to create different shades of emphasis and ways of bringing seemingly incompatible pieces of writing together. Ultimately, students will create their own "group pieces," from free write to a final, choral performance!


Testimonials & Reviews

“Johnny is an extraordinary poet and presenter with a vivacious personality... The feedback from his performances, and creative writing workshops, is always passionate and so positive.” Sophie Hamel, Salmon Arm Secondary
“Even the students who usually don’t like anything liked everything today!” Sara Conkin, Gordon Head Middle
"Johnny's writing workshops encourage the students to see ordinary things in a new light, embrace their unique selves, and take creative risks outside their comfort zones. I always look forward to Johnny MacRae’s enrichment to my classroom!" Cindy Pitchford-Yeung, Lord Byng Secondary

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