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Hip-Hop open mic featuring Saleem Hussain Ansari and King Kimbit. The mic/stage is open to all forms of Hip-Hop! Bring your bars and/or dance moves. Send your backing tracks to cahuas2120@gmail.com (or bring your beats on a USB)! Open mic list prioritized to youth.

Saleem Hussain Ansari of The Tribe of Ansar is a 27 year old Hip-Hop Emcee, hailing from Turtle Island. His writings touch upon world issues, spirituality and social norms. His adoration of life and love of learning is uniquely resonant in all of his work. Find Saleem online @thetribeofansar

The internationally-acclaimed multidisciplinary artist King Kimbit, originally Nguyễn Anh Thư, was born and raised on unceded Algonquin territory to Vietnamese boat people. While attaining her Bachelor of Mathematics and a Minor in Spanish, King has been performing and recording music and poetry in Jamaica and all over Turtle Island, sharing love and knowledge, which she believes are connected by similar roots. King has recently released her debut double-disc album LIFE LESSONS POETICALLY (with help from Canada Council for the Arts and the City of Ottawa). Life Lessons Poetically is a collection of poetry with respective musical arrangements to illustrate the lessons learned and insight gained so far in her quarter century journey through intersections. Despite the inevitable presence of oppressive white supremacy and patriarchy, there is beauty in telling stories of life and death, revealing the healing and survival of women and the world.

Accessibility Info: Voices of Today is committed to creating an environment that is accessible to all those wanting to take part in the festival’s events. To help us in this effort, we have conducted an accessibility audit of the venue the majority of the events are occurring. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds. All of the events for VoT are PWYC (suggested $10). Events at the Palmerston Library are easily reached by transit. The library is a five-minute walk from the Bathurst subway station. Paid parking is available across the street, with one accessibility spot available. The main entrance to the building is wheelchair accessible, with an automatic door that can be opened by pushing the accessibility button. The theatre can be reached via stairs or hand operation lift (which will be operated by one of our volunteers). The entrance into the theatre is not automatic, meaning some folks may require assistance with the door to enter. We are looking into ramping the stage right now. There is one accessible non-gendered washroom on site though it does not have automatic doors. There are also one non-gendered washroom that is not accessible with a mobility device. The space will be scent free, and free of air fresheners, including in the bathrooms. There may be dander due to support animals, but animals are not normally in the space. There is not much room in the area surrounding the venue for a guide dog to be toileted. Unfortunately we will not have ASL interpreters available throughout the festival. For those who do not want photos taken. We will have beaded necklaces available at each event so our photographer will know not to take/upload any photos with you in it For a more detailed outline of the accessibility of the Palmerston location of the Toronto Public Library, please refer to our document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PwiHElmP5shfoQStjLwgx5GpN6wVKwI4VPdJceBtlCg/edit?usp=sharing