About
We’re back with the fourth annual Cincinnati songSLAM! Five teams each present a single new song for voice and piano. The voting audience — in the poetry slam tradition — then votes for their favorite songs and awards a total of $2,000 in prize money. Don’t miss this fun event that engages both performers and audience members equally, all while bringing awesome new songs into the world and supporting the mission of Cincinnati Song Initiative!
Prizes for the 2023 Cincinnati songSLAM:
Teams with the Most Individual Voters
1st Place: $600
2nd Place: $400
Teams with the Most Votes (Dollars Raised)
1st Place: $600
2nd Place: $400
How It Works
The songSLAM is a competition to celebrate brand new song and a fundraiser to support Cincinnati Song Initiative’s 2022-2023 season and artists. But what makes this event different from other competitions?
YOU are the judge! That’s right. There’s no lofty panel of elder statesmen sitting in the back of the room taking notes and whispering into tape recorders. You, the audience, get to vote your favorite teams to victory via a simple text-to-vote system (and lots of cheering).
$1 equals 1 vote. So if you can’t make up your mind between your three favorite teams, send each of them $5! Or, if you’re there to make sure your roommate comes out on top, send everything you’ve got to their team and put them over the finish line! The choice is yours, and every dollar you donate goes towards supporting the world-class artists and programs of Cincinnati Song Initiative’s 2022-2023 season.
This event is unashamedly partisan. The more friends and family you get to support your team, the better your chances of emerging victorious. The ultimate goal of the songSLAM is to bring as many people together as possible to celebrate the world premieres of brand new song.
Online Voting Starts January 12
Each song will be professionally recorded and available online so anyone in the world can view and vote. Online voting starts January 12 at 7:00pm ET and remains open until the end of the live SLAM on January 14, at which point all voting will end, and the winners will be announced.
Meet your host, DuWaup!
The award-winning author, poet and singer/songwriter, Kimberly “DuWaup” Bolden is a longtime resident of Cincinnati, OH who maintains deep connections to her hometown roots in Northern Kentucky. An artist and entrepreneur, she co-owns a creative consulting company, BOLD Creative Solutions, and she’s the Executive Producer, organizer, and host and of DuWaup’s Cincinnati Poetry Slam and DuWaup’s Poetry Open Mic Night. After 20 years in the industry, DuWaup continues to bring her creative energy to the region and the world with tenacity and enthusiasm.
The Cincinnati songSLAM is a competition to celebrate new songs and a fundraiser to support Cincinnati Song Initiative’s 2022-2023 season programming. Your votes are tax-deductible and support both the SLAM’s cash prizes and the artists who bring CSI’s Mainstage programs to life. Thank you for voting generously and supporting the promotion and innovation of song in Cincinnati!
