Since 1992, ABQ Slams has provided brave spaces for performance poetry opportunities & events; enabled local poets to travel and perform nationally & abroad; designed & implemented educational programming with Albuquerque Public Schools, the Albuquerque correctional system, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, and scores of prestigious colleges & universities, but most closely with the University of New Mexico; been awarded by the City of Albuquerque, the New Mexico State Senate, the APS School Board, & the NM Hispano Entertainers Assoc. for outstanding work in the community; hosted & organized two of the most successful Poetry Slam Inc. Tournaments & one of the largest College Unions Championships in their history, right here in Albuquerque; and lastly, it is ABQ Slams’ honor & privilege to have represented at every National Poetry Slam Tournament since 1995, claiming three National Championships, nine Regional and two College Unions Poetry Slam Championships, among fifteen seasons-worth of finalist & semifinalist finishes in now our 25th year. Such is Albuquerque Poetry Slam’s humble legacy as the premiere competitive spoken word troupe in the Southwest, if not the nation.
