La Soul Renaissance, 561 Purchase St (2026)

20/06/2025

🎤🔥 SATURDAY, JUNE 21st — DON’T MISS THIS! 🔥🎤
at the 2025 Cape Verdean Pan Afrikan Hip Hop Festa
“UM FRENTI UNIDO – A UNITED FRONT”
📍 Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall, 561 Purchase St, Nu Betti Fetti (New Bedford, MA)
🕘 9PM–1AM | 🎟️ 21+ | 💥 FREE w/ donations welcomed

🎧 Headlining the turntables for the night: DJ LEFTY

30+ years of dancefloor mastery.
A Cape Verdean Music Award-winning DJ and RI Hip Hop Lifetime Achievement Honoree, DJ Lefty will be spinning a genre-blending sonic journey all night long:
Hip-Hop, Kriolu, R&B, Soul, Afrobeat, Merengue, Reggaeton, Dancehall, Salsa, & more.

He’s shared stages with Jay-Z, Biggie, Wu-Tang, and now he’s bringing all the heat to Verdean Vets to move the community with rhythm, culture, and soul.

🎤 LIVE PERFORMANCES BY:

🔥 – Cape Verdean emcee, educator, and Culture Shock founder with The International Players Band
🔥 ’s Lord Gremithy – Gritty, lyrical, and unapologetically raw
🔥 – U.S. Hip Hop Ambassador, DEIB leader, soul poet and activist
🔥 EmiliOMG – Puerto Rican/Mexican R&B force, performer, songwriter, and filmmaker

Each artist brings a voice of liberation, truth, and cultural memory to this solstice celebration of art, ancestry, and unity.

Join us for a powerful night of music, memory, movement & resistance as we celebrate:

50 Years of Cabo Verdean Independence

The intersection of Hip Hop, Cape Verdean Culture, & Pan-Afrikan Unity

79th Anniversary of the Verdean Veterans Memorial Foundation

Summer Solstice Vibes

🎨 Artists, performers, vendors & volunteers:
📧 Email – [email protected]

05/12/2024

✨“IN THE SPIRIT: A Reading by Everett Hoagland of Original Poems Celebrating the Spirit of Christmas, Kwanzaa, the New Year, and Justice” ✨

🗓 Date: Saturday, December 21st
⏰ Time: 2:00 PM
📍 Location: New Bedford Free Public Library, 3rd Floor Reading Room
613 Pleasant Street, New Bedford, MA 02740

Award-winning poet Everett Hoagland has been writing poetry professionally for over 60 years, crafting a legacy that spans the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Arts Movement, Black Lives Matter, and beyond. As New Bedford’s first Poet Laureate, Everett has made profound contributions to the city’s cultural and artistic landscape, mentoring and inspiring many of its poets, artists, and community members. His influence resonates far beyond New Bedford, earning him recognition among the most significant African American poets of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, as well as among American poets in general.

Winner of the 2023 American Book Award for his collection The Ways, Everett’s poetry masterfully blends the rhythms of jazz and blues with powerful reflections on life, love, family, friendship, spirituality, culture, nature, politics, justice, and African American history. His work has been celebrated nationally and internationally, appearing in prestigious anthologies and earning accolades such as the 1974 Gwendolyn Brooks Award for Fiction, the 2002 ForeWord Magazine Best Poetry Book Award, the 2015 Langston Hughes Society Award, and the 2023 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Poetry from the American Literature Association’s Society for African American Literature and Culture.

This FREE and rare public poetry reading, celebrating the spirit of Christmas, Kwanzaa, the New Year, and justice, is a must-attend event for poetry lovers and fans of Everett Hoagland’s work

✨ Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the live poetry of Everett Hoagland! A book signing will follow the reading. ✨

This event is organized by with support from ’s Art is Everywhere.

24/10/2023

This Saturday Oct 28th at 8pm spoken word poetry showcase and open mic featuring Christopher Johnson (), Michael Warrior Bonds ( ), and Will C ( ) at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall 561 Purchase Street New Bedford. The event is 21 plus and is FREE no cover charge.

15/10/2023

Michael “Warrior” Bonds aka will be performing spoken word poetry at La Soul Renaissance’s spoken word poetry feature and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Saturday October 28th from 8PM until 10PM.

Michael Warrior Bonds is a multiple award winning veteran performer, a Lizard Lounge Hall of Fame poet and author from Roxbury/Boston MA. He is the founder and creator of . His dynamic performances, characterized by their passion and authenticity, resonate deeply with audiences.

With a background in Criminal Justice, Bonds has conducted workshops both nationally and internationally. He clinched the "Best Spoken Word Album" honor at the New England Urban Music Awards in 2008. Twice acknowledged as a "Boston Community Warrior," his influence extends beyond art into community empowerment. When he is not performing poetry he can be found in Boston’s inner-cities working as a proven at risk youth engagement specialist, an outreach community coordinator and a non profit organization consultant.

An accomplished author, Bonds has penned two volumes of poetry, "Gunz, Poems & Rosez" and "The Write." His poetic contributions have graced various literary anthologies and magazines, including the esteemed "Bandana Republic," edited by luminaries Louis Reyes Rivera and Bruce George. His presence in documentaries and films, including the acclaimed "The 2006 Red Bull Word Clash Film," solidifies Bonds' regional and national impact as an artist and community leader.
Come out and enjoy good vibes, culture, spoken word poetry, and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall- CV Vets Hall located at 561 Purchase Street, New Bedford MA.
The event is FREE and is 21+ plus.
This event is made possible with support from art is everywhere

15/10/2023

Christopher Johnson aka will be performing spoken word poetry at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Saturday October 28th from 8PM until 10PM.

Christopher Johnson is the recipient of the 2018 Rhode Island State Council of the Arts Fellowship for Playwriting. He is also a finalist for the 2018 for the McColl Johnson Fellowship and an award-winning Slam Poet. Timely, relevant, honest, unapologetic, personal, and political, Christopher Johnson’s spoken word commands in a way that is uncomfortable and arresting. Educated in performance art through experience and mentorship, it has been said that his pieces touch the heart with feathers and barbed wire alike, speaking uncomfortable truths, invoking the best and worst of human emotions.
Christopher’s presence demands attention in a way that leaves people captivated and eager to hear more. Using words like a dancer uses movement or a painter uses color, his delivery is nuance. There is expressive intention in every gesture without it appearing choreographed. Able to evoke deep seated dormant emotions through writings and performance, Johnson's emotional expression through his art transcends race, gender, and other divisions. His impassioned words reach into the collective soul of all of us, touching and expressing our own pain, fear, and love, as well as his own. When Christopher is on stage you can rest knowing you are safe in his capable hands treating strangers like family guaranteeing both the content and delivery will remain a part of you forever.
Come out and enjoy good vibes, culture, spoken word poetry, and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall- CV Vets Hall located at 561 Purchase Street, New Bedford MA.
The event is FREE and is 21+ plus.
This event is made possible with support from art is everywhere

15/10/2023

Will C will be performing spoken word poetry at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Saturday October 28th from 8PM until 10PM.
Will C." is popularly known as a community theater practitioner in Playback Theatre, an educational consultant for multiple organizations, and a professor at a local university. He is also a 2-time member of the Lizard Lounge slam team which has performed across the nation. Exploring paradoxes, existential contexts, and patterns stimulate him. Will C. is an eccentric introvert, one who has worked nationally and internationally to influence personal, professional, and communal development. For nearly three year he has been hosting a poetry in the woods series in Westwood.
Come out and enjoy good vibes, culture, spoken word poetry, and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall- CV Vets Hall located at 561 Purchase Street, New Bedford MA.
The event is FREE and is 21+ plus.
This event is made possible with support from art is everywhere

13/10/2023

FREE TONIGHT - La Soul Renaissance Spoken Word poetry show and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Friday October 13 from 8PM until 10PM.
The night will feature spoken word poet Sophia Silva ( ), Jeannie Nunes ( ), Sara Monteiro ( ), Art Collins ( ), and myself. If your free Friday night come out and enjoy good vibes, culture, spoken word poetry, and open mic. The event is FREE and is 21+ plus
Made possible with support from Art is everywhere

12/10/2023

La Soul Renaissance Spoken Word poetry show and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Friday October 13 from 8PM until 10PM.
The night will feature spoken word poet Sophia Silva ( ), Jeannie Nunes ( ), Sara Monteiro ( ), Art Collins ( ), and Erik Andrade (). If your free Friday night come out and enjoy good vibes, culture, spoken word poetry, and open mic. The event is FREE and is 21+ plus
Made possible with support from Art is everywhere

07/10/2023

Cape Verdean and Irish American poet Erik Andrade aka will be performing spoken word poetry at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Friday October 13 from 8PM until 10PM.

Erik has made successful and impactful contributions to the world as a father, an international, national, regional organizer, spoken word poet, fashion designer, recording artist, environmental justice educator, youth leadership development educator, non-profit program manager, community historian, graphic designer, videographer, mixtape DJ, event planner, grant writer, consultant, TED talk presenter, political strategist, disrupter of negative power, thought leader, and founding member of La Soul Renaissance LLC

Come out and enjoy good vibes, culture, spoken word poetry, and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall- CV Vets Hall located at 561 Purchase Street, New Bedford MA.
The event is FREE and is 21+ plus.
This event is made possible with support from art is everywhere

06/10/2023

Art Collins aka will be performing spoken word poetry at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Friday October 13 from 8PM until 10PM.
Art Collins is a Boston native and the District wide Restorative Practices Coach in Boston Public Schools. He is a poet who has competed on multiple Lizard Lounge National Poetry Slam teams traveling across the country. Art creates socially conscious poetry that he hopes will motivate and inspire his listeners.
Come out and enjoy good vibes, culture, spoken word poetry, and open mic at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall- CV Vets Hall located at 561 Purchase Street, New Bedford MA.
The event is FREE and is 21+ plus.
This event is made possible with support from art is everywhere

06/10/2023

Cape Verdean American spoken word poet Sara Monteiro aka will be performing at ’s spoken word poetry open mic and feature night at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall in New Bedford on Friday October 13th from 8PM until 10PM
Sara Monteiro is an African/Cape Verdean/African American professional who has worked in an administrative capacity in Education for the last 15 years. She arises from a strong and civically engaged Cape Verdean family, who instilled the values of hard work, integrity and community. A proud Providence Native, her focus and talents have been utilized to provide quality service to low-income and under-represented communities. She is a business owner and consultant who specializes in creating programs, processes and protocols for organizations.
As a mother of two, she is passionate about creating and supporting fruitful programs for inner city youth. She is a URI alumni with a background in African American Studies & Human Development, who currently serves as Co-Chair to URI’s Alumni of Color Network. She has a master’s in education from the College of Saint Rose and 11 years of experience working in public and charter schools in Albany, NY. In 2021, Sara launched her own poetry series called OUTSPOKEN, a safe space for artists to speak power to truth. She strongly believes, Truth Matters, Words Matter and Sharing Matters.
Come out and celebrate Cape Verdean Culture and poetry at the historic Verdean Veterans Memorial Hall- CV Vets Hall located at 561 Purchase Street, New Bedford MA.
The event is FREE and is 21+ plus.
This event is made possible with support from@_NBCreative art is everywhere

La Soul Renaissance

20/06/2025

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