Park City Institute Presents Award-Winning Slam Poet And TED Speaker Shane Koyczan

Internationally renowned spoken-word artist, author, TED Speaker, and anti-bullying advocate, Shane Koyczan will perform Saturday, March 24, 2017 at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, part of the Park City Institute's 20th Anniversary Main Stage Season. The performance begins at 7:30 P.M., tickets start at $29. Koyczan will deliver an evening of his starkly-honest, rhythmic verse.

"Shane Koyczan has performed on stages from London to Sydney, Stockholm to Los Angeles, and receives standing ovations for his work," said Teri Orr, PCI's Executive Director. "He's what we need right now: he expresses the ways we need to see ourselves, instead of the ways we want to see ourselves. "

When he performed his poem, "We Are More," at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, it became clear to the world that his personal truth, is a universal human truth: "We are an idea in the process of being realized."

Koyczan shines a light into the bleak world behind some of the most incomprehensible acts in our culture, and also shows the healing power of love. "I guess some people expect me to show up wearing a beret, smoke cigarettes and have a funky heroin addiction," said Koyczan. "I think they are always surprised by how emotional the shows are - there are moments of great levity as well as moments of despair and all I'm doing is taking them through that range of emotion and letting them know it's okay to feel."

Koyczan's first published collection of poetry, Visiting Hours, was the only work of poetry selected by both the Guardian and The Globe and Mail for the Best Books of the Year lists in 2005. He followed up this success with Stickboy a novel in verse that chronicles the dark and lonely journey of a bullied child gripped by helpless rage. In 2013, he collaborated with his band, Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long, and animators, to make the anti-bullying video, To This Day, which has now had over 22 million views. He performed a customized version, For The Bullied and the Beautiful, to acclaim, at the 2013 International TED Conference in California. His 2014 debut graphic novel, Silence Is A Song I Know All The Words To, includes Troll, a poem about cyber bullying and the challenges of managing and understanding this new breed of abuse. It critically examines the deep wounds of participating in the digital generation. In a groundbreaking musical collaboration with Cayne McKenzie of We Are The City, and Hannah Epperson, the book was accompanied by a collection of songs created from the poems featured in the novel.

The evening will feature Koyczan performing his acclaimed poetry-words that speak directly to the people in their own voice.

Tickets to SHANE KOYCZAN, are available at parkcityinstitute.org, or by calling the box office at 435-655-3114. Individual tickets range from $29 to $79. Discounts are available for children (16 and under), seniors, and Summit County students (K-12). Call the Box Office at 435-655-3114 for more information. The Box Office is located within the Eccles Center (1750 Kearns Boulevard, Park City). Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon through show time, on the day of a performance.

**PCI MEMBERSHIP EXCLUSIVE: Season punch cards of 10 are available for $240 (sapphire) $420 (ruby) and $690 (amethyst). For membership information, please visit parkcityinstitute.org.

Park City Institute is a non-profit organization, dedicated to bringing world-class performances and new ideas to the community. Since 1998, PCI has presented internationally renowned and cutting edge musicians, actors, authors, comedians, dancers, speakers, and film, at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center for the Performing Arts (a joint-use facility with the Park City School District). The organization will embark on its 15th season of headliner concerts, next summer. PCI is dedicated to introducing young people to the arts through free student outreach workshops, shows and demonstrations. Since 2010, PCI has offered a free, after-school literacy program to students in grades one through 12 at the thinky and fun tutoring hub, The Mega-Genius Supply Store and IQ HQ (located at 435 Swede Alley).

Entertaining, Educating, and Illuminating since 1998.

2017-2018 20th Anniversary Main Stage Season at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center

March 31 LA Theatre Works THE MOUNTAINTOP
April 3 Anthony Romero
April 7 OK Go

#parkcityinstitute #PCIMainStage #20thAnniversaryEccles #artmatters

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