A reason much greater than the rhyme itself…
The Vision.
A world where historically excluded and marginalized demographics will have the autonomy to thrive in healthy, unique culturally-centered practices.
The Mission.
Creating restorative experiences through storytelling (performance, publications, collective dialogue) and fellowship (social gatherings, educational spaces, creative circles).
Education. Elevation. Collaboration.
“Beyond The Mic.” is more than an initiative.
It’s a movement rooted in [non-political] Hip Hop activism to leverage empowerment and advancement using everything that’s readily available.
With creativity at the forefront, individuals are emboldened to cultivate personal skills and talents as a means to address social obstacles, create collaborative solutions, and overcome challenges together!
We vow to:
Educate: Inform one another, sharing cultural, experiential, intellectual and social capital as a means of communal wealth.
Elevate: Pour into one another, lifting each other up along the way with grace and truth.
Collaborate: Work together across the community, honoring the diverse talents and contributions being cultivated and offered to strengthen the communal infrastructure.
Workshops & Programs
With an educational background in Sociology, as well as ten years of restorative work experience with schools, community organizations, and government agencies alike, Se’Anna combines her professional expertise with her creative competence to use the art of storytelling as a means of developing Strong Critical Thinkers and Confident, Innovative Changemakers.
Voices in Verse
(A general Hip Hop/Poetry-centered creative writing workshop; suitable for all ages 12+)
Each of us have a seed of creativity within, and this is the perfect workshop to help water that seed and evolve in the skills necessary to bring out your most authentic creative self.
In addition to learning basic forms and rhythmic structures, participants will go through writing exercises to loosen up their inner-flow before utilizing their newfound skills to draft their own written art based on randomly selected themes. Participants will then have the opportunity to present their original works to the group and collaborate with others for constructive feedback and inspiration.
Great for relationship building!
The He[ART] of the Matter
(An SEL-centered creative writing course for school-aged youth)
Creative writing allows us to make sense of the world and generates a unique range of emotional resonance & connectivity between human beings. During this cycle, participants will focus on how creative writing centers identities (who we are), perspectives (How we view and understand the world around us), values (What we need), and purpose (what we’re doing & where we’re going). Participants will choose songs and poems from a pre-selected collection and dissect the central messages of those pieces as a group before taking the time to create their own individual written art based on the knowledge that they obtain.
Live on da Mic! Public Speaking Workshop
(An interactive workshop to establish confident, value-centered speaking skills; ALL AGES)
Public speaking allots us the opportunity to tell beautiful stories, exchange valuable information and deepen relationships in the name of the craft. During this workshop, participants will engage in introspective activities that produce authentic talking points before testing their newfound skills while building confidence in a practice round powered by randomly selected prompts and peer feedback.
Vision Restored
(Community-Centered; Adults, Youth Ages 14+)
Making a plan is the easiest part of resetting and restoring our vision, but if we don’t understand how our perspective contributes to our ability to thrive then we’re liable to remain stagnant.
Throughout this presentation, participants will analyze the power of socialization in how we see ourselves, our roles, and our functional purpose within the social systems that we inhabit. Participants will also reflect on the basis of how personal values, direct relationships, support systems, social environments, resources and having a plan are the strongest contributing factors to our ability to operate in our greatest functional purpose.
Derived from the framework of the guided journal (“Write the Vision, Make it Plain”), this goal-oriented workshop is designed to help individuals create (and re-create) the perspective of what it means to see, solidify and thrive in their greatest functional purpose while setting a foundation for actionable steps.
