Anti-Slam is a movement that was started more than a decade ago by Rev. Jen Miller at a venue called Collective: Unconscious,in reaction to the Poetry Slam movement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The timely event has spawned a movement of non-traditional performance among Lower East Side based performers who refer to themselves as Art Stars. At regular poetry slams, performers are given a score of 1-10 by a panel of five judges,while at an anti-slam, all participants are given a perfect ten—stand-up, fiction, commentary, poetry, rants, are all welcome.[1]
In the book Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, spoken word icon John S. Hall cited the anti-slam as a valid and inspired response to New York City's notoriously competitive Poetry Slam community. He noted:
| “ | To me, one of the best commentaries on slam was when Reverend Jen came up with 'the Anti-Slam,' where everybody gets a perfect ten. In a sense, that's kind of like the opposite problem, which is that you're saying there are no winners or losers at all. And even at an open reading, there are winners and losers, but it seems less stratified and controlled and gamed. The system is more gamed, I think, in a slam. And you're more limited in how you're going to succeed in a slam than you are in an open reading.[2] | ” |
On October 17, 2007, Rev. Jen Miller hosted the final anti-slam at Mo Pitkins House of Satisfaction. It was the open mic's 12th Anniversary.[3]
In 2008, Rev. Jen Miller revived the Anti-Slam at Bowery Poetry Club as a monthly event, held on the last Wednesday of each month.