Youth Speaks recognizes that each of our teams represents a larger organization in our local cities that supports the work all year.

Often times, youth who do not make the team are some of the most committed to the work and to our non-profits, and they should be rewarded for their participation with opportunities like Brave New Voices. Currently Youth Speaks only has the capacity to support each of the teams and their adult mentors.

For us this means up to 6 youth and 2 adult chaperones who we refer to as BNV Participants. Anyone who is not officially on the team but plans to attend BNV with a team and stay in the dorms is referred to as Entourage.

Brave New Voices is an opportunity for young writers and free thinkers to celebrate themselves, their stories and their voices in fellowship once per year. Youth Speaks wants to open this opportunity to any who can attend and supports the efforts of all of our partners to bring youth to attend the festival, who may not have made the team.

Any non-team members or Entourage are encouraged to register ($400) for the festival to gain priority access to attend all of the festival events including the Finals, Speak Green, and the Bringing the Noise concert.

We will have very limited space at our events and will reserve seats at each event, according to the number of registered participants with priority going to the 360 team members.

We encourage teams to bring no more than 5 Entourage members from your city.  If you plan to bring more, please contact National Director Hodari Davis (hdavis@youthspeaks.org) with details and to discuss registration fees. All entourage will be required to register at the $400 rate.

To get a copy of the registration form click here.

*Upon completion of the form, please fax to 415.255.9065 or email hello@bravenewvoices.org. Registration is not official until the fees have been processed. You will receive a confirmation message.

Housing
Official festival housing takes place at Columbia College, one of the official Presenting Partners of the 2009 Brave New Voices Festival.
Housing is for Entourage and Team members only. Youth Speaks is not providing housing for Festival Pass buyers, but we recommend getting housing soon as there are many festivals in Chicago in the summer.