Open Mic @ Bethany Arts Community
Open Mic @ BAC!
Date & Time: Friday, September 18, 2026
6:30-7:15pm: How to Rock an Open Mic Workshop (See below for more info!)
7-7:30pm Performer Sign Up
7:30-9:30pm Open Mic
Location: Bethany Arts Community, 40 Somerstown Road, Ossining, NY 10562
For Ages 16+
Tickets (at the door): Pay-What-You-Can $10 – $20
Join Hudson Valley Books for Humanity and Bethany Arts Community for our monthly Poetry/Spoken Word/Music Open Mic. Come on by to BAC this month and share your latest poetry/spoken word/music projects with a supportive audience.
Bring your talent, your works in progress, and your positive energy to our stage. This event is open to teens and adults near and far.
Planning to Perform at Open Mic on September 18?
Performer sign-up occurs between 7-7:30PM. Performers will submit their name “into the hat” and we’ll draw 13 names right before 7:30PM. Each performer will have up to 5 minutes each on the mic. Performers are encouraged to make a suggested donation between $5-$20 at the door.
OUR COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS
To help nurture a space of respect, validation, and welcoming:
- We’re here to share space, build community, and support each other.
- Performers: respect the 5-minute time limit and be mindful of your timekeeper.
- If you like something, make some noise! Snap your fingers, stomp your feet, clap, whatever feels right to you.
- We encourage you to get to know your seat neighbors. Connect and build community.
Open Mics take place the 2nd Friday of every month.
Co-hosted by Hudson Valley Books for Humanity, a welcoming space to build community through books and art.
Find Hudson Valley Books for Humanity on social media @hudsonvalleybooksforhumanity, on their website hvbooksforhumanity.com, or visit them at 67 Central Avenue, Ossining, NY 10562.
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How to Rock an Open Mic
A Pre-Open Mic Workshop Series for Poets & Writers
With James K. Zimmerman
Every month at 6:30pm
FREE! Registration (above) strongly encouraged. Walk-ins welcome until we reach capacity.
*Workshop will begin promptly at 6:30pm. We are not able to accommodate late comers.
September 18: Gearing Up @ Bethany Arts Community
Explore how the brain works when we’re anticipating a public reading. Explore performance anxiety vs adaptive excitement. In addition to the evening’s unique focus, each workshop will include time for sharing material with the group, practice reading, discussion, and a short meditation.
ABOUT JAMES
James K. Zimmerman is an award-winning writer and frequent Pushcart Prize nominee. He has been published in journals such as Atlanta Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Chautauqua, december, Folio, Lumina, the minnesota review, Nimrod, Pleiades, Rattle, and Salmagundi, among many others. He has read his works in dozens of venues, including Poets’ House, the New England Poetry Club, KGB, Otto’s Shrunken Head, the Norwich (VT) Bookstore, San Jose State University, Amherst Writers & Artists, Straw Dog Writers Guild, and the Association of Writers & Publishers. His published books of poems include “Little Miracles” (Passager Books), “Family Cookout” (Comstock Books — winner of the Jessie Bryce Niles Award), “The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dōgen” (Poetry Box Press — Editor’s Choice), “Uncertainty” (Bottlecap Press), “Unbroken Circle, Unending Thread” (Fernwood), and “Portrait Miniatures” (Broadstone Books).
