Two local young women artists are thrilled that poems they wrote with guidance from mentors at the Deep Center creative nonprofit organization are being turned into songs with the help of folks from the Savannah VOICE Festival (SVF).
Poems by Settie Lee and Ella “Bubbles” Zipperer were selected to be transformed into music in the first creative collaboration between Deep Center and the highly-esteemed VOICE Festival, with the results debuting at a SVF/Deep Center presentation in May.
"The partnership with Savannah VOICE Festival was such a special opportunity for our young people to explore what other forms their writing could take,” said Ariel Felton, former Block by Block teaching artist and current director of Youth Programs at Deep Center.
“Their writing is always published in Deep books and blogs, but pairing young authors with composers and adding music to their poems really took their work to the next level. We're so thankful for this partnership happening in our first completely virtual year, keeping young people engaged even when we weren't in person.”
SVF staff also believes this is an important collaboration.
"Savannah VOICE Festival is honored to continue to collaborate with Deep in the creation of new songs, with their artists writing the poems, and SVF trained composers educating the young writers and setting their texts to music,” said Chad Sonka, education and outreach coordinator for SVF and VOICExperience.
“The benefits of Deep Center and SVF's collaboration are two-fold. Firstly, it ensures that the texts of these young artists are heard. Deep's message is ‘Our stories matter, and we at SVF support that on every level. Secondly, the creation of new music is vital to the future of our art form. Music exists in a time and place, so to commemorate this historic time with new music and stories by young, and at times, underrepresented artists seemed like the right project to cultivate."
"Blessed by the Best" by Settie Lee by savannahnow.com on Scribd
Poetic art
Zipperer was in the sixth grade at Oglethorpe Charter School when she became involved with the Deep Center, because she had a “knack for writing,” she said. Deep, as some have nicknamed the mentoring group, uses writing, art and culture to “feed the creative fires of Savannah’s young people,” according to the organization’s mission statement. Furthermore, its mission “is to empower Savannah’s young people to thrive as learners, community leaders and agents of change.
Meanwhile, Lee was a sophomore at Woodville Tompkins Technical and Career High School when her English teacher told her that she was impressed by an essay that she wrote.
Clearly, Lee’s instructor was fascinated by the teen’s literary talent and told her about a local program that she might want to consider becoming involved with to sharpen her writing skills.
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“I was fascinated,” recalled Lee, who is now 20 and a junior at Georgia Southern University. Deep Center has several subgroups, including one called Block by Block for creative writing, leadership and community building, which appealed to both Lee and Zipperer.
Zipperer is a rising junior and choir major at The Savannah Arts Academy and is delighted that her poem “Worth Less,” is being set to music by producer Dave Ragland. The poem, she said, is a play on words and is based on a personal experience about someone who made her feel worthless.
Ragland also is producing Lee’s poem, which is entitled “Blessed by the Best” and uses rays of sunlight as an analogy to blessings. The musical version started as a sort of island sound but evolved into a “jazzy, smooth beat, which is kind of cool,” Lee said.
Ironically, Zipperer began writing stories and hated poetry, but was encouraged by mentors to push her boundaries and ended up coming to love poetry, she said. Lee also started writing poetry with the guidance of Deep Center mentors.
“I had no idea that I could do that,” Lee said. “But (poetry) was one of those things that opened within me.”
Lee was accustomed to being a performance artist, thanks to the encouragement of family initially, becoming a writer was a “light switch that flipped on.”
"Worth Less" by Ella Zipperer by savannahnow.com on Scribd
So many people working with Deep Center "pushed me to be my best self," she said. Settie is indebted to mentors like Ragland, Marquice Williams, Trelani Michelle, DiCo, Ariel Felton, Keith Miller and Louise Tremblay.
“The people there are amazing and positive,” Lee explained. “Deep has really opened opportunities for me that I didn’t even know were there.” Lee said she would encourage young people who are bored or those who need an escape to become involved with Deep because “there are so many things within the organization.”
Zipperer has grown close to many individuals at Deep and admires the different perspectives through the experience. Walking in someone else’s shoes helps you understand people, she said.
Zipperer is undecided about what college to attend but is considering the Georgia Institute of Technology. The poet definitely knows that poetry and writing will always be a part of her life.
Moreover, Lee is a psychology and sociology major, and believes both poetry and poetry in song will help with a career.
For more information about upcoming events contact: Deepcenter.org or savannahvoicefestival.org.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah VOICE Festival turns Deep Center poems into song
