The Excelano Project is the University of Pennsylvania’s first and premiere spoken word group. Supposedly derived from Latin, “excelano” means “we march forth” and from its foundation in 2001 by poets and then Penn students Carlos Gomez and Warren Longmire, EP has been doing just that. Performing on campus and having competed at the national level, The Excelano Project has made a name for itself. In 2007 and in 2009 we had the pleasure of taking home the College Union’s Poetry Slam Invitational title. Our poets have been featured at the White House, on HBO, at the famous Nuyorican Poets Cafe, on Broadway, and all around the world.
But EP goes beyond the poetry; we are a family. This group is about finding voice. It is dedicated to the power of the mic and using personal experience to touch the lives of audience members. It’s about breaking down barriers. It’s about holding a speaker up to life’s white noise, to find that every one of us can be heard.