Young Detroit poet King Thomas Moore wins $15,000 grant for 12 & under open mic series
Detroit student King Thomas Moore is looking to foster a new poetry community in a mostly untapped age group. Moore wants to create an open mic series that highlights poetry in writers age 12 and under. He’s only 10 years old.
To help his dream come true, Moore is the youngest winner of the Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge Award. With his win, Moore could walk away with as much as $15,000 to help start the Super Cool Poetry Open Mic Series, according to the Huffington Post.
“Teenagers, they get a lot of stuff,” Moore said. “They have a lot of activities, but elementary kids, they don’t have a lot of activities to do.”
Moore’s interest in poetry comes quite naturally as his mother is none other than jessica Care moore, an internationally-renowned poet.
Building Support for the Arts
The Knight Arts Challenge focuses on supporting ideas that will support communities by using the arts. However, Moore won’t be able to benefit from all $15,000 of the grant unless he can match it with his own fundraised $15,000. To do so, Super Cool Poetry started an Indiegogo campaign where supporters can donate. As of this writing, it’s raised $2,140.
“The total of $30,000 will allow him to cover workshops, the poetry anthology, and a large culminating performance,” said his mother.
To prove that the idea can work, Moore held his first 12 & Under Super Cool Poetry Open Mic as a local bakery in Detroit on March 25. The next one is scheduled for April 25 in Atlanta.
Outside of writing and performing poetry, Moore also displays talent in other arts. He currently plays violin with the Detroit Youth Volume and Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Youth Ensemble. He also plays hockey for a local team.