Free Culture Arts
It’s Thursday night at the Santa Barbara Roasting Company and a man identified as Freddy sits on a low stage, reading a poem in rhyming couplets about being homeless and “a penny-pincher.” The audience sits at tables in front of him, drinking and listening. They listen respectfully because it won’t be long before it’s their turn for seven minutes with the microphone and their original material. When Freddy’s time is up he leaves the stage and emcee Jenny David gets up to introduce the next performer, Hugh, who plays, in contrast to Freddy’s serious poetry, a light-hearted guitar song about the troubles of a world without gravity.
Hugh and Freddy are a small example of the diversity of artists who now attend what started as a simple open mic for local poets. David, a spoken word poet and SBCC film student, has been working the Independent-sponsored Santa Barbara Open Mic for over a year. “It started in October 2008 and just took off.” Said David in a telephone interview, “We had about 15 artists the first time and now we have about 30 to 40 artists showing up. Each week is unique and special and inspirational.”
David believes the success of the open mic can be used to make it more than just a performance venue. That’s what moved her to form the Free Culture Arts Foundation, a coalition of artists dedicated to using their talents for community activism.
