If you love rap, hip-hop, poetry and spoken word poetry, the Greenway Court Theatre in Fairfax is the place to be for the seventh annual L.A. Get Down Festival that kicks off April 1st. The festival runs through April, in conjunction with National Poetry Month, Co-directed by Shihan Van Clief and Arianna Lady Basco.

The L.A. Get Down Festival showcases the poetry and slam poetry talent of a variety of poets and spoken word artists. Featured poets represent diverse backgrounds, perspectives and interests through dynamic and thought-provoking performances of Southern California artists. There is also a workshop series taught by local poet Sheila Sadr that explores the intersection between being a writer, community relationships and well-being.

Festival events are on weekends, Friday-Sunday, starting Saturday with “Local Legends Opening Night Ceremony” headlined by Ruby Ibarra at 8pm. She is an American rapper, music producer, and spoken word artist from San Lorenzo, California. She raps in Tagalog, Waray, and English about her cultural heritage and her experiences as an immigrant to the United States from the Philippines.

Other events include “Latinx Poets of the World Stage Press,” a reading on the 15th at 8pm, featuring poets Andy Sanchez, Alex Petunia, Carolina Rivera Escamilla, Carlos Ornelas, Cynthia Guardado and Poet Astrid and “Hear Them Loud” on the 22nd at 2pm, headlined by Shaan Dasani. Dasani is a Los Ángeles-based actor, producer, writer & speaker. He received his M.F.A. from Chapman University.

As Co-director Shihan Van Clief said in a KCAL News interview about the featured poets, “the goal is to get as many voices and as many stories heard as possible…there’s something to listening to a voice be shared in real-time from the person who experienced it.”

In the same interview, Co-director Arianna Lady Basco expanded on the diversity of the festival by saying this year’s festival “highlight[s] the Latinx Voices, the LGBTQ voices, the Asian diaspora voices.” A cross-section of L.Á. itself.

Tickets for each event are $10 and a festival pass is $40. They can be purchased online at the Greenway Court Theatre.