Round I Projects
PROJECT
BlaQspace: Black Queer Womxn Claiming Space
Miki Vale's BlaQspace: Black Queer Womxn Claiming Space campaign supports social justice and community engagement objectives focusing on Black queer female-identifying community members and claiming space in the lowest quartile California Healthy Places Index communities of Southeastern San Diego. In a ten-week playwriting workshop, participants explore the theme of claiming space and participate in community play-writing activities. The campaign culminates with a two-part public reading series at Libelula Books. In this queer-owned bookstore, professional actors read and perform the workshop participants’ plays, followed by a moderated community talkback centered on the theme of Black queer womxn claiming space in San Diego and dissemination of a selection of the plays through radio.
LEARN ABOUT THE ARTIST + CULTURAL PRACTITIONERS
Miki Vale
Miki Vale is an international Hip Hop performing artist and U.S. cultural ambassador, teaching artist, Old Globe-commissioned playwright, and founder of SoulKiss Theater, an arts education organization for queer Black womxn. Her work serves to amplify community consciousness around relationships, wellness, and justice. Vale has performed and participated in panels at landmark venues and festivals in the US and internationally, from Hollywood and Washington D.C. to Mumbai and Cairo. For her contributions to Hip Hop culture, Vale has earned a San Diego Hip Hop Honors Award, a Female Perspective Award, and the 2021 San Diego Music Award for Song of the Year for "Bad Wolves," a song condemning anti-Black racism. For her work within the LGBTQIA+ community, she was awarded the 2017 Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Honor.