McSWAY was founded on October 13, 2012, with the mission to bring together the Montreal community and to reintroduce spoken poetry to the McGill community. We support artists of all levels. McSWAY provides an open and safe space for McGill and the Greater Montreal community to enjoy, explore, or perform spoken word, open mic, music, and poetry. Our group achieves our goals by hosting workshops, poetry shares, open mics, and other local social events. McSWAY can be read two ways: (1) "Mc" for McGill and "SWAY" for moving the crowd. This is crucial to the spirit of poetry as this art began as persuasive speech. (2) "Mc" for McGill Students and SWAY for "Spoken Word Associated Youth," which represents the youthful and sometimes callow rigor to embrace the world, and the ability to unabashedly reveal our raw emotions onstage.