To kick off the 2025 New Leaves Festival, IWC is going to do what we do best: a run-of-the-mill, ordinary Open Mic. But this is no ordinary Open Mic! We will also feature IWC Collective members past and present, with a headlining performance from IWC co-founder Rawle James in his triumphant return to the Okanagan. Get there early as this event will no doubt fill up fast with the love that this community has for Rawle and the popularity of IWC’s Open Mics!

Tickets are $10 - $20 (sliding scale) and can only be purchased at the door. Event is all ages.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 10 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

Rawle James: Rawle has appeared as a featured artist at Colbalt Poets, oooh Beehive, Spoken World Online, Gestalt Open Mic, and POP Chat. He has several poems selected for various anthologies and has authored two poetry books, Truth Experienced and In Flow with Grace. He is the founder and producer of the Inspired Poetry Corner, which hosts Sunday at the Corner, Gestalt Open Mic, Home is the Heart Open Mic, In Celebration and Above the Noise. He is also a fellow of the International Academy of Ethics. Rawle continues to embody the spirit of Ubuntu, I am because you are.

IWC Collective: Kelowna-based literary and performance non-profit Inspired Word Café (IWC) has been instrumental in creating a robust poetry and Spoken Word scene in the Okanagan. Run by the IWC collective, and known for their flagship open mic that happens from September to April at BNA Burger, IWC has long created a space for emerging and tenured writers and performers from all walks of life to be welcomed and upheld as they share their work, learn new skills, and connect local and national literary scenes. IWC is also the creator of New Leaves Festival of Arts and Culture.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.