Q Summit is a poetry and spoken word mentorship program that provides a creative development space for 2SLGBTQ+ youth ages 19 to 29. The program supports the growth of participants in both technical poetry skills and personal development, as they explore their identities. Workshops are taught by Melly Davidson and Martin Gomes, who ensure a safer space for self-expression, learning, professional development, and friendship-building.
This program will take place over two sessions, covering a range of learnings including free writing, exploration of form and poetic devices, history, editing skills, and performance practice.
Program participants will contribute their finalized works into LSA’s annual anthology of poetry! They will also work towards a final poetry showcase where friends and family will be invited to celebrate the poets’ efforts*!
*Accommodations can be made for participants who choose to remain anonymous at the showcase.
Program Goals
- Self-Expression: Find and amplify your authentic poetic voice.
- Knowledge-Building: Learn about different aspects of poetry, e.g. rhythm, editing, presence, breath work, history & key figures, etc.
- Skill-Building: Create poetry & spoken word pieces through an iterative process, receiving feedback from your mentors and peers to build skills in writing and performing.
- Community: Surround yourself with like-minded artists in a safe and welcoming environment.
2023 – 2024 DATES:
Thursdays at 6:30PM to 8:30PM.
Fall Session: Weekly from November 2nd to December 14th, 2023.
Winter Session: Weekly from January 18th to April 4th, 2024.
Showcase date: May 9th, 2024.
Location: This is a hybrid program. Workshops will be held predominantly online via Zoom, with occasional in-person workshops at Lakeshore Arts (2422 Lake Shore Blvd. W., Etobicoke, ON).
Past Events & Creations
Q Summit 2023 Live Poetry Showcase
On the last week of April, we closed out the 2022-2023 season of Q Summit with a spectacular poetry showcase! The poets spent months lovingly crafting poems and preparing for this special night. All that love and care showed as they blew us away with their words and performances!
The poets will be performing live at Tammy’s Wine Bar (@tammyswinequeen) on 1662 Queen St. W starting at 7PM. With finger food and drinks, Tammy’s is a cozy, queer-owned wine bar and cafe, known for their Sunday karaoke nights. A wonderful place to perform your heart out!
Finally a big thank you to all who attended the event and showed so much love to the poets. Your support filled the room and made the night.
Live recording of showcase will be uploaded soon!
What Colour is a Heartbeat? | 2022/23 Digital Anthology
Meet the Mentors
Melly Davidson
Melly Davidson is a Queer diasporic writer and mover, with lineage from Lebanon to Jamaica to Canada. They compete in local and International slam competitions like CUPSI and FEMS. Melly is a street dancer and artist educator. They currently live in Tkaronto. Above all, they wish to emote the good kinds of sticky.
Martin Gomes
Martin (he/him/they) is an Afro-Latinx, queer, citrus fruit lovin poet born & based in downtown Toronto. His official poetry journey began under the tutelage of Britta B at JAYU, a charitable organization that shares human rights stories through the arts and engaging conversations. His unofficial journey began with his first exposure to poetry: A Goofy Movie 2 and an episode of Fresh Prince where Will writes poetry under the guise of Raphael DeLaGhetto. Since then, he has gone from student to mentor at JAYU teaching both level 1 and level 2, and the Guelph Humber x JAYU poetry collaboration. He currently runs spoken word & beatboxing workshops with Unity charity. His goal is to create spaces that encourage folks to be their most authentic, genuine selves in a raw, real, “non-Disney” type of way. (He messes with Disney though, don’t get it twisted.)
