Spoken World Series at Mesa Arts Center Opens with Mayda del Valle, 10/17

Internationally-recognized spoken word artist Mayda del Valle headlines the first event in Mesa Arts Center's Spoken World series, a fusion of dynamic spoken word artists with mixed media and live instrumentation. Joining del Valle on Oct. 17 at 7:30 pm. will be emcee and poet Tomas J. Stanton, renowned spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, award winning Jazz/Soul band Mother's Favorite Child featuring Tanya Tiet, Billboard Charting Artist Vaughn Willis and Valley-based DeeJay Panic. Tickets are available at mesaartscenter.com or by calling 480-644-6500.

Del Valle's womanhood and Puerto Rican ancestry are themes that play a key role in her work. The Chicago Sun Times describes her as having "a way with words...sometimes they seem to flutter and roll off her lips. Other times they burst forth like a comet streaking across a night time sky."

Del Valle won the National Poetry Slam at the young age of 22, being the youngest and only Latino winner in the slam's history. Her achievements have include performing on Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam for six years, being a judge on Brave New Voices (the teen affiliate of Def Poetry Jam), performing at the White House for the President and the First Lady, and being recognized as one of the twenty most powerful women today in O The Oprah Magazine's 'O Power List'.

The Spoken World Series fuses the nation's most acclaimed Spoken Word artists with mixed media and live instrumentation. The series is curated and hosted by one of America's most vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, in partnership with locally based Spoken Word artist Tomas J. Stanton of Phonetic Spit. The series will engage Valley audiences through community outreach and unforgettable performances, building on the Mesa Arts Center's continuing commitment to empowering communities through its spoken word education programs and professional performances.

Also performing in the 2014-15 Spoken World series under the artistic direction of Marc Bamuthi Joseph are spoken word superstars Roger Bonair-Agard, Denise Jolly, Sonya Renee Taylor and The Soul Justice Project Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Next on the series in November is One Drop of Love, a multimedia one woman show and exploration of race in the United States produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni.