Grounded Possibilities Fellowship
Grounded Possibilities is a fellowship program that encourages, educates and resources Black artists in North Carolina who want to create arts interventions that support environmental justice work hyper-locally and across the state.
We work with Black artists and culture makers across North Carolina. We recognize and honor the multiplicity of the Black experience and as such are intentional in including Black queer and trans folks, Afro-Indigenous and Afro-Latinx folks, Black folks with disabilities, Black folks in rural communities and Black folks across the class spectrum. And we know that Black artists in NC build relationships and impact culture shift across racial and geographic lines. While these communities are not centered in the work, we know that this work will edify people across NC and beyond.
Our vision is to be an embodiment of reciprocal relationship with the earth, sustainable community care, and emergent possibilities - centered in artistic and cultural practices - as an invitation for others to do the same.
Meet the Fellows
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Assata Goff
ASSATAS MAGIC
Assata's skill to fluidly combine mediums using surrealism is breathtaking. They merge 2D animation, sculpture, painting and virtual reality, to form dynamic textured pieces. Assata captures the feeling of imagination, isolation, and intimate thoughts on their journey to self acceptance. Surreal dreams also shape Assata’s work. Assata's hope is that by being vulnerable with their work they will inspire others to dream of a future rooted in love.
@assatasmagic
https://assatasmagic.com -
Brian Kennedy
Brian Kennedy, II is a researcher and a home cook based in Durham, NC. His work combines social science, food, and literature to explore problems and understand and preserve Black foodways, culture, and traditions.
@briankennedy2
projectmaroon.com
linkedin.com/in/brianekennedyii/ -
Eggy Strange
EGGY STRANGE is a multi-dimensional artist based in Durham, North Carolina. Building an early foundation in music through Afro-Caribbean cultural dance then later performing as guitarist and vocalist in post-hardcore band ISELIA. Now they're expanding even more, recently taking on the role of rapper/producer intertwining their afro-indigenous roots with hip-hop and the rebellious spirit of hardcore.
@eggystrange
www.EggyStrange.com -
foster weems
PLAY CHURCH
foster JANAE weems (she/they) is an interdependent-disciplinary artist of Afrolachian heritage. she is the loudest thing that god made, a gatherer of niggas, an inciter of play and experimentation and a practicer of care. Spirit, grief and wholeness are central to her work of unsettling the mess of who we are.
@fatblackclit
@niggagarden
@churchofplay -
Khalisa Rae
GRIOT AN GREY OWL BLK SOUTHERN WRITERS CONFERENCE
Khalisa Rae is an award-winning author, activist, and storyteller. As a queer rights advocate and community builder, she seeks to uplift Black queer voices. She is the author of the poetry collection, Ghost in a Black Girl's Throat and the sold-out play production, Seven Deadly Sins of Being a Woman. An accomplished performer, journalist, and playwright, her writing has been featured in countless literary journals and magazines, including Pinch, Third Coast, Southern Humanities Review, PANK, Autumn House, Jezebel, Blavity, and NBC-BLK. Her impactful work has received a Appalachian Arts and Entertainment Award, a Gwendolyn Brooks Prize, and multiple Pushcart nominations, among others. She is the founder of Think in Ink Literary Collective, the WOC Speak reading series, and a co-founder of the annual Griot and Grey Owl Black Southern Writers Conference in Durham. Khalisa Rae's YA novel in verse, Unlearning Eden is forthcoming.
@Khalisara
www.khalisarae.com -
Maxine Eloi
Maxine Eloi is a multidisciplinary artist and revolutionary.Maxine believes that through art, storytelling, community and education we can collectively move towards liberation. Maxine is so grateful to live as an artist and collaborate with others to create powerful, joyful, thought-provoking art and experiences.
@maxsunlove
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Quay Weston
Quay Weston is a Black Southern Designer, writer and family historian/archivist from Pantego, North Carolina. With over a decade of experience as a visual designer, Quay uses his creative talents to support local & national organizations that are committed to building a more equitable and just world.
@yondaproject
www.yondaproject.com -
Resita Cox
Resita Cox is an Emmy Award winning documentary film director and producer. Her films are a poetic portrayal of her community’s irrepressible spirit and resilience in the face of racism. . Born and raised in the South, her films center Southern, Black communities and use intimate observational narratives to examine topics ranging from environmental justice to hidden Black histories and afrofuturism. She is the director/producer of Freedom Hill, an award-winning documentary about the environmental racism that is washing away the first town chartered by Black people in the nation, which recently enjoyed its PBS premiere on WORLD Channel.
@aresitacoxfilm
www.resitacox.com -
Sonia Olivia
Sonia Olivia Muhammad, a designer, researcher, and strategist, blends cultural heritage and biophilic principles in her work, particularly focusing on ancestral sites in rural North Carolina. Through immersive nature experiences informed by collective memory, she is dedicated to placesaving and sustaining hyper local cultural practices and joy amidst environmental injustices.
@sonyay_
