Sat 4/15 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm EDT
After the success of Black Lady Poetry and Black Man Poetry in 2021, Green Acre and Theater for the People’s Najee Brown have teamed up again to present an evening of poetry as part of the Creative Power of Unity art theme, highlighting the work of poets of color in the Seacoast.
The Poets
Moon is a self-described spoken word poet, army veteran, and activist for refugees and asylum seekers. She is a recipient of the Rising Advocate award from the Bazelon Center in Washington, DC and the Diaspora Award from the Luol Deng Foundation, which recognized her for her advocacy work around mental health considerations in BIPOC communities.
In Portland, Moon works as the Wellness Coordinator where she oversees Peer counseling services for MANA, the Maine Association for New Americans. In this role she helps inform immigrant and asylum seeking communities as they navigate pathways in mental health services.
As an Artist She sits on the board for Portland Ovations a performing arts organization in Maine connecting artists and audiences through diverse arts experiences while propelling the artistic, social, educational and economic well-being of communities through the power of the performing arts.
As a documentary film writer/ producer her film “I come from away” is currently making its tour around the US through PBS airways. She is currently working with Director Charles Stuart on a follow up film further documenting the challenges and success asylum seekers face when migrating to the States and the state of Maine’s readiness to adequately serve this population.
Ayomide Olumuyiwa is a multidisciplinary artist and activist with long ties to the Dorchester neighborhood and the greater city of Boston. He has participated in louder than a bomb poetry competition, and is a twice published author.
Currently, he works in City Hall as a Director of constituent services for District 4, and in his downtime he creates music film and art through his small company M.o.M. Media.
Brooklyn born, Broward County Florida raised, Boston based lyricist Reason Beings pieces are flush with descriptions of the colorful feelings and sometimes dark events that regularly take place in urban centers all over the world. A furious mind delves furiously. Emerging consciousness making its debut against the bifurcated backdrop of a failed war on drugs coinciding with the worldwide proliferation of hip hop culture. If love for the destruction of black America was a coin these would be it’s sides. When the pressure mounted this son of Haitian immigrants found solace in his ledger. Having written music and poetry for over 20 years He never felt more connected than when reaching deep inside and sharing his perspective. That of a condescending unlikely optimist, apathy grappling hope. Having recently being released from an 18 month wrongful incarceration, (still currently in appeals process)he was possessed with a reinvigorated sense of duty towards creating art that spoke to empowering the disenfranchised and dismantling/excising corruption and injustice systematically inherent in so many American institutions. He found his Reason within… and he doesn’t mind sharing.
Duaa Zahra is a first generation Iraqi-American artist. She was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1991, now lives and works in Maine. She earned her BFA from the School of Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University in Massachusetts. Her experiences as an Iraqi war refugee displaced by war influence her work and illuminate her visionary explorations. Her paintings reflect the diversity and spirituality of the human experience through harmonious symbolism and an enduring appreciation for nature. Duaa expresses her work predominantly with oil and acrylic paint on canvas. She has exhibited her work in various local shows and galleries.
Upcoming exhibition l Jan-Mar, 2024 l Cambridge, MA
Jennifer Rachele is a Haitian-American artist born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She has a deep love for music, theater, and words and respects the power it has to inspire and heal.
As a young Afro-Latino boy growing up in Brooklyn, NY, during the early ’90s, theater was an important tool that helped Najee Brown imagine a better world in the midst of increased violence due to the crack epidemic. He saw that performing arts could facilitate a safe environment, where people felt free enough to express themselves and their social justice views through storytelling on stage. In that spirit, Brown recently founded Theater For the People to provide that same outlet and opportunities for today’s youth and adults, especially in cities that either lack diversity or include communities of marginalized people. Formerly Green Acre’s Artist in Residence, Brown now brings this entrepreneurial and creative energy to the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA.
