Sunday, May 7th, 2023 1:00 PM-2:30 PM CDT

Join us for The Lion & Pirate

Accessible Inclusive Open Mic

Event Graphic in left corner stone lion statue wearing red pirate hat sparkling glasses and eye patch text with details of event all on mustard colored background

CLICK HERE FOR PERFORMER SIGN UP

Featuring David Sirois

and Celebrating the work of Gene Rodgers

Gene blue eyed bearded male wearing leather brown and grey green cowboy hat looking off to his left smiling wears riyal blue shirt brick wall background

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so we encourage you to share work that highlights the impact of mental health issues on your life. As always, we welcome anything that gives voice to the honesty only poets dare to see. A dance routine that lets you move through the days with a little more joy. A song that warms your heart. We invite you to share it with the community from your home stage! Show us what you've got and let MsBoye know if you'd like to be a featured performer in the future. Thank you!

Please limit yourselves to 3-5 mins for spoken word or one song for music. If we have time, we’ll invite folks to share a second time, so it’s good to have a back-up!

Click here now to sign-up to perform.

PLEASE NOTE: SIGN-UP CLOSES Saturday at Midnight.

Join us on our regular Zoom meeting link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85231105344

It will also be posted on Sunday on our Facebook Event Page.

The Lion & Pirate is proud to be inclusive and welcoming, feel free to invite your friends to join us to connect with the community, bask in the talent, and enhance the celebration. Sharing the event on social media is encouraged, but we ask you don't post on Twitter, as we've found it opens us to Zoom Bombers.

Meet our Featured Performers

David wearing brown quarter zip brown sweatshirt under a light blue lounge jacket looks directly into camera has short brown curly hair studio boom mic seen in background

David Leo Sirois is a Canadian-American poet published 142 times, in 24 countries. His work has been translated into 12 languages (Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, French, German, Czech, Spanish, Greek, Romanian, Chinese, Turkish, & Doric). He hosts Spoken World Online, the Zoom continuation of SpokenWord Paris. His first collection is called Humbledoves (poems to pigeons & plants). He won Third Prize in Winning Writers' Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. His poetry has appeared in journals such as The Bombay Review, The Poetry Village, One Hand Clapping, Indian Periodical, The Sunday Tribune Online, & Terre à Cièl (which also published his translations from the French). Sirois is frequently featured at global events, such as the Panorama International Literature Festival, & 100 Thousand Poets for Change, as well as in many international podcasts & interviews. He is also a singer/songwriter, radio DJ, & a film/TV/theater actor. He is currently submitting 5 finished manuscripts for publication, & writing several more.

aerial shot of Gene paragliding in midair in tandem with Laura they are harnessed together and both smiling green fields can be seen below

Gene Rodgers, a dear friend and supporter of the Lion & Pirate, Art Spark Texas, and CDT, was a writer, world traveler, explorer, foodie, adventurer, risk taker and wise guy jokester left us suddenly last month.

Gene R. Rodgers grew up in Cleveland, Ohio but lived in Austin, TX for many years. He broke his neck at age 17 when he fell from a cliff at Whipp’s Ledges in Ohio. The good news is that his life was filled with many adventures in 44 countries since then. Some of the many activities he enjoyed included sailing, sky diving, scuba diving, paragliding, and he even made an expedition to Mt. Everest Base Camp (with CTD!). You can see pictures from some of Gene's adventures at www.GenosPlace.org. Or, grab a copy of his new memoir, Awesome by Accident: How Adapting to a "tragic accident" led me to create my extraordinary life.

Call For Open Mic Performers

We are looking for Poets, Musicians, and Performance Artists to be featured performers and to expand the Lion& Pirate Community. If you attend other open mic's in Austin or virtually please invite performers you think are a good fit for our commitment to inclusion.

If you are interested in being the Featured Artist or know of another performer who would be suitable, please contact MsBoye at [email protected].

Check out True Tales Season 2 Bonus Episode

Listen and share this special bonus episode featuring seven short stories with topics ranging from Self-acceptance to Crunchy Barbecue Crickets, as well as Family Belonging, Speaking up and Passions for Zombie Movies and Exercise by @AISD Go Project students. It's adorable. https://www.artsparktx.org/truetalespodcast

Click here to listen to previous episodes with full transcripts.

Be Sure To Catch the Next Episode of the

Art Spark TX Radio Hour

Mondays 2:30-3:00 pm

Visit our website for details of All our events.

The Lion and Pirate Accessibility Adventure Note

We'll be using Rev for closed captions during the event. Rev isn't great for music, so we'll screen-share the lyrics of anything musical. You can still see the performer during songs, just follow these instructions for side-by-side screen sharing (and let us know if you have questions): https://support.zoom.us/.../115004802843-Side-by-side...