"You have so, so much inspired me with your Spoken Word" said the legendary Stevie Wonder, while interviewing Taalam Acey, during Wonder’s own birthday celebration in May 2008. Taalam, a child of the Newark Rebellion, was raised by a single mother who was a member of the famed writer and activist Amiri Baraka’s community organization. Acey is an independent artist whose work has been featured frequently on TV One and was selected as the original "number one thing you need to know about" on BET's countdown show, "The 5ive." Over the years, BET has featured and aired roughly a half dozen segments featuring Taalam Acey. The Newark, NJ native’s poetry has appeared in Essence Magazine and Susan Taylor, the magazine’s Editor Emeritus, personally invited Acey to perform for an audience of six thousand at The Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Acey was selected as the initial presenter for the inaugural Baltimore TEDx. He was also the curator of the 2011 Sacred Circle Cafe at New Jersey's most prestigious theater, the NJ Performing Arts Center. Taalam was honored to be a guest of Congresswoman Maxine Waters for the Congressional Black Caucus' 2007 & 2008 "Young Gifted and Black" panels. He has shared his work in several countries and approximately one hundred schools of higher education; including the esteemed Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley, where he delivered a lecture on contemporary Spoken Word. Taalam Acey has recorded more than a dozen CDs and authored four books. Additionally, films that include his work have garnered an Audience Award (2002) and a Special Jury Prize (2006) at the Sundance Film Festival. He was featured in an acclaimed Radio-One London slam poetry documentary and Marc Smith, the founder of slam poetry, used Acey's work in his definitive book.
Here is a list of schools that have invited Taalam to speak. To add your school to the list contact your SGA or an organization on your campus and have them email artcarter44@aol.com
Alfred University (Alfred, NY)
Amherst University (Amherst, MA)
Baltimore City Community College (Baltimore, MD)
Brandeis University (Waltham, MA)
California State Polytechnic University (San Luis Obispo, CA)
California State University (San Bernadino, CA)
California State University (Sacramento, CA)
Cheyney University (Cheyney, PA)
Christopher Newport University (Newport News, VA)
Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado)
Coppin State University (Baltimore, MD)
Drew University (Madison, NJ)
Edward Waters College (Jacksonville, FL)
El Centro College (Dallas, TX)
Essex County College (Newark, NJ)
Howard University (Washington DC)
Hunter College (New York, NY)
J. Sargeant Reynolds College (Richmond, VA)
Johnson & Wales University (Miami, FL)
Long Island University (Brooklyn, NY)
Marymount University (Arlington, VA)
Maryville College (Maryville, TN)
Mercy College (Dobb's Ferry, NY)
Messiah College (Grantham, PA)
Milwaukee Area Technical College (Milwaukee, WI)
Northern Michigan University (Marquette, MI)
New York University (New York, NY)
Penn State University (University Park, PA)
Rhode Island College (Providence, RI)
Rider University (Lawrenceville, NJ)
Rock Valley College (Rockford, IL)
Rutgers University, Busch (Piscataway, NJ)
Rutgers University, Camden (Camden, NJ)
Rutgers University, NCAS (Newark, NJ)
Sacramento City College (Sacramento, CA)
State University of New York at Albany (Albany, NY)
State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton, NY)
Union County College (Union, NJ)
University of California (Santa Cruz, CA)
University of California (Berkeley, CA)
University of Delaware (Newark, DE)
University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK)
University of Illinois (Chicago, IL)
University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN)
University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK)
University of Redlands (Redlands, CA)
University of Southern California (LA, CA)
University of Texas (Austin TX)
University of Texas (Dallas, TX)
University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI)
William Paterson University (Wayne, NJ)
Williams College (Williamstown, MA)
