Poet Jordan Presents: “Black Excellence”: An Evening with Nikkita “KO” Oliver
When: Friday, November 20 at 7 PM PST – 9 PM PST
Hosted by Jordan Chaney, Celina Mahinalani Garza and 5 others
Where: Online Event
Tickets: ti.to/Poet-Jordan-Presents/black-excellence
Thank you to our sponsors!
Platinum Sponsors –
Communities of Color Coalition
Ted Miller
WholeStory
Gold Sponsors –
Native LifewayCommunity Sponsors –
Karla Camac Carlisle
Erik Ralston
Seema L. Clifasefi
Becky Beardsly
Wendy Veysey
John Roach
Previously, Poet Jordan Presents brought New York Times bestseller Ijeoma Oluo and Academy Award-winning filmmaker T.J. Martin to eastern Washington to talk about their creative and powerful work.
Now, Poet Jordan Presents: “Black Excellence”: An Evening with Nikkita Oliver!
Nikkita Oliver (they/them) is a Seattle-based creative, spoken word artist, community organizer, abolitionist, educator, and attorney. Working at the intersections of arts, law, education, and community organizing, Nikkita strives to create experiences which draw us closer to our humanity and invites us to imagine what we hope to see in the future. Nikkita is the co-executive director of Creative Justice, an arts-based alternative to incarceration and a healing engaged youth-led community-based program.
Also joining the program will be opening notes provided by Reagan Jackson, a dance performance by Serenity Wise, and poetry by Daishaundra Loving-Hearne. Celina Garza with Native Lifeway will provide the land acknowledgement and blessing.
Reagan Jackson is a multi genre writer, artist, activist, and international educator with an abiding love of justice, spirituality, and creating community. She is the Program Director for Young Women Empowered and the cofounder of Blackout Healing. You can learn more about her at reaganjackson.com.
Serenity Wise is a dancer and arts researcher/organizer. In her dance practice, she studies Orixa/Orisha movement from the Afro Brazilian tradition of the Black diaspora. It’s a personal practice that allows her to trace and recover knowledge from her ancestral roots. However, she also believes Black dances to be important to educate and share broadly, as a method of reclamation for Black people whose origins have been marginalized by colonization and racism.
Poet, writer, activist, and choreographer Daishaundra Loving-Hearne is no stranger to the arts or the power of it. She is a Co-CEO of Urban Poets Society and the founder of Black Lives Matter Coalition: Tri-Cities. After spending over 16 years in the arts and working with youth, she has dedicated all of her talents and voice to standing and fighting for equality, equity and victory of our people.
Celina Mahinalani Garza is the Tribal Liaison for the Strong Heart Study serving Native communities in the Phoenix area, specializing in Client Relations and Community Outreach. She is the Founder of Native Lifeway.