The 2012 conference was held at Pendle Hill Retreat Center near Philadelphia. Although Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall right after the conference, affected conference participation on the last day of the event, the conference was warm, welcoming, and rated very highly by participants for how inspiration, informative and helpful it was. Jimmy Santiago Baca was keynoter, a very lively and varied coffee house of wonder took place (including everything from long-form comedy improv to storytelling to singing and poetry), and all the performances and workshops were lively. Here's more details.
The TLA Network exists to support and promote individuals and organizations that use the spoken, written, or sung word as a tool for personal and community transformation.
The Transformative Language Arts Network (TLAN) is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in our offerings, organization, and aspirations. Words have the power to question, subvert, and transform limiting cultural narratives as well as reinforce entrenched stories and stereotypes. The TLA Network wants to make clear that we celebrate and uplift conversations across identity and difference, whether rooted in race, religion, social class, ethnicity, disability, health, gender, sexual orientation, age, military service, and other identities. In the past we have responded to a lack of diversity by actively recruiting underrepresented groups to: present and keynote at the Power of Words conference; serve on the TLAN board; teach classes; and contribute to our publications. We will continue to look at ways to incorporate greater access and representation in all of our projects, not just through the power of words but through the specifics of our practices.
