The Youth Leveraging the Power of Vulnerability in Open Mic Nights (@BSpace4)

What is the open mic night culture all about? And how is it empowering the youth in today’s world?

I was recently invited to attend an open mic night in Dubai by the Blank Space and I was blown away by the diverse talents that performed that night and their engaged audience, both were primarily in their late teens or in their twenties. It made me reflect on the concept of open mic nights and how they can open certain doors for the youth that the older generations never had at a young age.

According to Wikipedia, an open mic night is a live show at a public space, at which audience members who are amateur performers or professionals are given the opportunity to perform onstage whatever material they wanted.

The open mic I attended was the 33^rd edition of open mics hosted by the Blank Space, a community that gives a platform for people to showcase their talents in poetry, music, and standup comedy. This particular community has been there for almost 4 years, hosting monthly open mic nights for the public. Their events start from 7 PM and can last till 10.30 pm. The instructions for the performers were simple: Register half an hour before the event starts. Spoken words get 3 minutes while music performance gets 4 minutes. No promotional material is allowed, no vulgarity, cursing, or politics. And always, respect the mic.

The event started with Mathani, one of the founders of the Blank Space and their regular host. She was so full of life and energy, introducing the event and what it is about, the rules, and how to engage with the performances, not orally not by clapping, but by snapping fingers so you don’t disrupt the performances.

The event lasted three and a half hours with a break of just 10 minutes in between. Performers were introduced just by their first name or their chosen nickname, allowing them to be judged only by their performance, not by whose son or daughter they were or what tribe they came from. The performances included poetry, music, rap, and standup comedy. Performers presented in English, Arabic, and even Urdu. A performance after another of raw talents and genuine vulnerability into their most intimate emotions. The audience was respectful, engaged, and supportive to each of the talents on stage, cheering for the ones who froze in stage fright to help them get back on track.

The concept of the open mic night and how it’s organized by a young group of people was mind-blowing for someone from my generation. Especially because the majority of performers and attendees were either in their teens or their early twenties. No such platforms existed for my generation at that young age. Any stage that did exist, especially for poetry, was exclusive to poets who have published a few books and was mainly only for classic Arabic. Back then, it felt exclusive and elitist. To perform free verse poetry on such stages was a sign of weakness in devising a balanced verse, rather than a sign of creativity and fluidity. To recite anything other than classic Arabic meant you didn’t have a strong Arabic identity. Introducing poets was always by full name, leaving the audience to box the poet in their tribal background boundary, judging on their whole tribe by every word they utter.

So to me, this open mic represented even more than just talents. It represented youth taking control of their present and future. It showed how the youth can create and organize a safe space to share their talents in all its forms and in all the identities they come in, representing today’s diverse life in the best way possible, inclusive and respectful of all cultures and all forms of talents with no restriction on either. To me, this event showed how the youth empowered itself to survive today’s tribulations by allowing its people to express in any respectful way they want and as vulnerable as they want, tapping into the whole liberating power of vulnerability.

I would like to end with a quote by Brene Brown from her book Daring Greatly, as it represents the essence behind open mic nights: “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”