Vania (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist and storyteller. Homegrown in Chicago, Gutierrez now resides in California’s Bay Area. Vania uses poetry as a medium to explore what it means to hold relations — to land, lineage, self, language, people, and place. She affirms that poetry is an essential tool in the liberation of all oppressed peoples and is key in revitalizing and maintaining sacred ancestral traditions. She is a three-time Louder Than a Bomb Slam Champion and Brave New Voices alum who has toured throughout the United States. Gutierrez has published work in The Womanist, Palacio Magazine, and The Offing Magazine, and has received a San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Award. Vania’s original poetry video ‘A Name Buried In The Dirt’ was showcased at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and manuscript ‘A Name Unearthed’ was selected as a finalist in the Button Poetry 2022 Chapbook Competition.

Chicago’s Inaugural Poet Laureate, interdisciplinary artist avery r. young is also an award-winning teaching artist. As co-director of The Floating Museum, young’s work stretches to that programming and curation of the Chicago Architecture Biennial - Cab5, This is a Rehearsal [2023]. Young’s poems and essays have been published in Cecil McDonald's In The Company of Black, The BreakBeat Poets, and other anthologies. His album booker t. soltreyne: a race rekkid engages matters of race, gender, and sexuality in America during the Obama Era. Avery’s work in performance, visual text, and sound design has been featured in several exhibitions and theater festivals.His theater credits include co-writing and co-producing the soundtrack for Lise Haller Baggeson’s Hatorgrade Retrograde: The Musical, scoring RedClay Dance’s Rest.Restore.Nourinsh.Move.Heal and writing the libretto for The Chicago Lyric Opera’s Twilight: Gods. Currently young is working on the libretto, compositions for his debut opera titled safronia and he is working on the score and script for his debut play maim de looter(s).

Emmy Award-nominated Liza Garza is a poet, vocalist, circle facilitator, designer and one part of the mother-son, singer-songwriter duo with Eli Lakes, who together formally present as GROW. Rooted in a passion for Oneness, joy and the transformative power of love, her art is heart centered and spirit led. She holds sacred the power of our inherent knowledge and champions its ability to unveil bridges between the hearts.

Lala is an artist and storyteller who uses poetry and visual art to illuminate the intricate relationships between humans and the worlds around + between us. LaLa is an alumna of Kuumba Lynx Performance Ensemble and the University of Wisconsin-Madison First Wave Hip Hop & Urban Arts program, where she first got her footing as a multidisciplinary artist and director. She has written and presented several collaborative productions, including SPILL at the Line Breaks Hip Hop Festival in Madison, WI, and CORE at the inaugural Chicago Hip Hop Theater Festival in Uptown. Most recently, LaLa directed “Welcome Home with Nico Segal” for the 2023 LookOut series at Steppenwolf Theater. When she is not writing, LaLa is co-creating imaginary worlds with her daughter, Ollin. You can see more of LaLa’s art by visiting lalanomada.com

Sejahari is a multidisciplinary storyteller from the West Side of Chicago who uses his voice to uplift, advocate for, and represent black and brown stories in music, film, theater, spoken word and fashion. Sejahari is a nationally acclaimed spoken word artist who has earned a multiple prizes for his original written and performance work. He is currently pursuing his second Masters degree in filmmaking from the London Film Academy as a Marshall Scholar. Most recently, he completed a residency at the Southbank Center, in the United Kingdom, where he debuted his talents as a rapper and musical producer in the ‘Reframe’ exhibition. As he continues to express himself through various artistic outlets, he is interested in how the art-making practice can be used as a tool for healing, community building and liberation. Learn more at www.sejahari.com

Emon was named Chicago’s first Youth Poet Laureate. Her work unpacks unpacks her coined philosophy of “hood-womanism”. She is an artist and educator from the Wes and Souf side of Chicago and has been featured in Vogue Magazine, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. Her work has appeared in the ​BreakBeat Poets Anthology​ series, Volumes 1 & 2, Poetry Foundation Magazine, The Reader, South Side Weekly and elsewhere. She is host of her hit talk show, “The Real Hoodwives of Chicago'', produced by her production company, BlkHoneyBun Productions, LLC. Her first chapbook of poems, ​”COMMANDO”​, was published by Haymarket Books, Fall of 2017.

Chicago based SAIC Alumni, and frequent traveler of the Midwest, NYC, & Miami. My graffiti work is often abstracted letterforms from traditional street styles of drips, and overlaying primary colors with the goal to brightly move surface's. In 2023, I was showcased in Miami’s first Museum of Graffiti, in the global highlights exhibition as the center piece exemplar of Chicago’s Style. In 2018, I accomplished the tallest Mural in the historical neighborhood of Pilsen’s arts district.

Ayesha is a designer with a background in architecture and photography. She is interested in technology, film, transitions & in-betweens.