POST UPDATE 2/4/24

This intensive workshop series provided a journey of collective, creative healing that culminated in the creation of memoir poetry…

Lead by world-renowned poet, Ursula Rucker as guide and mentor, attendees were  invited to voice their thoughts, heart, grief, loss and found a good deal of good gains as well. They discussed, learned, wrote and performed…

This was OVERWELMINGLY POSTIVE!  The attendees bonded so completely in just 3 sessions.  Ursula is so good at what she does, she effortlessly inspires creativity and love. 

GOOD GRIEF CINEMATIC POETRY

NOW as of 3/1/24 – Selected poems are becoming short films!  The poets have been paired with a SIFTMedia 215 filmmaker to produce a filmed version of their poem. Sound recording  done at Lil’ Drummaboy sound studio, under the guidance and tutelage of Ursula Rucker. The films will then be paired with the anthology COVID1619 and screened as a large public performance in the summer of 2024.

BEHIND THE SCENES MOMENTS

GOOD GRIEF (Visual Poems) :
Director/Producers and Poets:

Filmmaker   |   Poet
Rae Shaw    |   Dominic Bradley
Iliana Pagan  |   Iliana Pagan
Tatiana Bacchus |  Naila Francis
Destiny Cox  |  Farrah Rahaman
Stephanie Malson  | Khaliah Pitts
M. Asli Dukan | Morgan MacConnell
Jasmine Callis  | Jessica Noons
DaSaint Nassuni  |  Abdul-Karim

Nikki Harmon Project  Producer
Elizah Turner  is Project Coordinator

ORIGINAL POST

PROGRAM TIMELINE:

• Session 1 – Friday, January 26th, 6pm – 9pm – to be held in person – Location: d’griot 51 Maplewood Mall, Philadelphia, PA, 19144 & virtually on Zoom

• Session 2 – Saturday, January 27th, 11am – 2pm – to be held in person –
  Location: d’griot 51 Maplewood Mall, Philadelphia, PA, 19144 & virtually on Zoom
• Session 3 – Sunday, January 28th, 1pm – 4pm to be held in person –Location: Lil’ Drummaboy Recordings 818 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19147 & virtually on Zoom
• Session 4 Live Performance – Sunday, January 28th, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm, live performance to be held in person – Lil’ Drummaboy Recordings 818 South St, Philadelphia, PA 19147 & virtually on Zoom and streamed for friends and family.

Up to 25 participants (including up to 5 virtually)
Fee for all 3 Days – $150 |  $100 for SIFTers use promocode during registration.

The COVID1619 Project is a series of short films by members of SIFTMedia 215 Collective that look at education, healthcare, governance, creativity, economics, and family from the Latinx and Black point of view. Our community programming component is done in partnership with Philadelphia artists and activists, part online and part in person.

The first public program was the CRT: Pop-up Poetry Memoir Workshop with Philly’s own Ursula Rucker in 2022.

This second public program will comprise of another 3-day intensive poetry workshop with renowned poet & activist, Ursula Rucker. While still working through her own personal grief, she will guide participants in exercises to expand their own self-awareness and work through their own grief, loss and gain through poetic memoir.

But that is not the end of the project, that is just the beginning. Selected poems will be individually recorded at a sound studio under the guidance and tutelage of Ursula Rucker. The poets will be paired with a SIFTMedia 215 filmmaker to produce a video version of their poem. The videos will then be paired with the anthology COVID1619 and screened as a large public performance in the summer of 2024.

We at SIFTMedia 215 want to engage viewers in critical conversations about today’s issues and facilitate the creative spark that exists within each of us.

URSULA RUCKER

Poet, recording artist, activist, teacher and revolutionary, Ursula Rucker is a certified veteran of the global music and poetry scene. A skilled writer and dynamic performer, Rucker’s rich and textured voice is one of the world’s great, living instruments. For nearly 3 decades, Rucker has used her fiery prose and invigorating imagery to excite and inspire listeners worldwide. Her solo albums are brimming with power and wide-ranging musical diversity and she has built an equally impressive catalog as a collaborator. Rucker can be heard on dance floors across the world, as the voice of many House and Dance music classics. She has toured with her live performance memoir, My Father’s Daughter, which she describes as “90 minutes of self-truth and discovery.” She was a 2018 recipient of the prestigious fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Change. In 2020, she released big/small poems for pockets, a chapbook of haikus. In 2021, Ursula collaborated with artist Vince Fraser on his exhibit Ase Afro Frequencies which debuted at Artechouse Miami and was recognized as Best Art Exhibit 2021 by TimeOut Miami. At the close of 2022, Ursula had the distinct honor of being selected for the Philadelphia Cultural Treasures Fellowship, recognizing her continued commitment to the advancement of art, and artist advocacy, and an endorsement from her community that her legacy is essential to the cultural fabric of Philadelphia.

Whether she’s on the stage, in print, or on record, Ursula Rucker is an artistic force of nature.

Check Out the poems created during our first
Memoir Poetry Popup with Ursula in 2022