A group of young people from Bermudas let their talents shine at a prestigious Chicago arts festival this summer thanks to the efforts of local performing arts charity Chewstick.Now Chewstick’s youth ChewSlam programme is offering a taste of the 16th Annual Brave New Voices Poetry and Spoken Word Festival in a talent showcase on Saturday called Show and Tell.“The group is eager to show photos, videos and some of the poetry and stories from the festival,” said Deidre Lee Bean of Chewstick.“This was an opportunity for the ChewSlam group to share on the issues that matter to them with youth from around the globe was a tremendous step for them to claim their place as the leaders of their generation,” said Ms Bean.Grace Edwards, 19, went with ChewSlam as part of the entourage. She was not chosen to be part of the six-person team and compete against other teams in poetry, but she said the experience was still amazing.“The atmosphere was great; everything was great about it,” she said. “The people were so friendly. It was like being in one big happy family. Everyone was super supportive. I went to support the team.”The team was comprised of young people ages 15 to 19 years. To get on the team they had to compete in Bermuda against other ChewSlam members with a three-minute poem, a two-minute poem and a Japanese haiku poem.“A lot of people were really emotional with every piece they did at the festival,” said Miss Edwards. “Poetry is about telling stories.”Miss Edwards is a student at the Bermuda College in the liberal arts programme and hopes to one day teach drumming and performance. “It definitely opened my eye to a lot of other matters that are going on outside of the western hemisphere,” she said. “There were people from Cape Town, South Africa and they described how rebels were trying to take over their entire country.”She said a lot of teens struggle to be heard by the community, and Brave New Voices provided an outlet.“That is the best thing about Brave New Voices,” she said. “You think you are the only one going through something and meet someone else going through the exact same thing. You make a lot of friends, meet new people and learn a lot.”ChewSlam was able to reach their financial goal for participation this year through donations from The Bank of Bermuda Foundation, Bermuda Arts Council, John and Jean Campbell and funds raised by the Beachfest Emancipation Celebration.“Show and Tell will not only be an appropriate thank you to all those that came forward in support of the group’s efforts, but also show the rest of Bermuda their skills, how they represented Bermuda and speak about the quantifiable benefits of the Brave New Voices experience,” said Ms Bean.Brave New Voices is run by American poetry and spoken word charity, Youth Speaks, that has the goal of providing spoken word education, development and performance opportunities to young people around the world.Entry to Show and Tell on Saturday (August 24) at 8pm at Chewstick headquarters on Elliott Street in Hamilton is $10, with proceeds going toward participation in Brave New Voices 2014.For more information about the Chewstick Foundation and its programmes call 292-2439, e-mail info@chewstick.org or see www.chewstick.org. For details on Youth Speaks visit www.youthspeaks.org .