Readers’ Choice 2009 results: Arts & Entertainment

Best local band / performer
Kinetic Affect
 

Kinetic Affect is 2009’s Readers’ Choice Award winner in the Best local band category.

Since beginning their collaboration after meeting in 2006 as competitors in a poetry slam, spoken-word-poetry duo Kirk Latimer and Gabriel Giron have taken Southwest Michigan by storm, performing sold-out shows around the region and taking their brand of socially conscious performance entertainment to venues across the nation.

The duo has used the exposure for good, working with juvenile homes, Boys & Girls clubs, community organizations and public schools to use spoken-word poetry as a vehicle to help students communicate their experiences. They recently founded Speak It Forward, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping generate and tell the stories of others through the work they do with youth.

“Our work may just feel relevant to people right now who may be looking for hope, who may be looking just to know what’s important in their lives, and that’s a large part of what we do with our work,” Latimer said. “We’re not just entertainers.”
CONTACT: www.kineticaffect.com.

To see the full Kalamazoo Gazette Readers’ Choice 2009 results click HERE