Sat 2/18 @ 1PM
Wed 2/22 @ 7PM
Twinsburg-based Michelle R. Smith is a writer, educator, performance artist and “cultural facilitator,” whose poetry has been published in various anthologies and publications, as well as her own books Ariel in Black and The Vagina Analogues.
She also created and produces BLAX Museum, an annual showcase for black arts and performing talent that honors influential black historical and cultural figures, now in its fifth year. She brings together artists and performers in a variety of media and disciplines to celebrate the stories of important figures in Black history and culture.
Over the years, it’s paid tribute to such significant figures as Malcolm X, Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Frederick Douglass, Nikki Giovanni, Fred Hampton, Jimi Hendrix, Gordon Parks, Billie Holiday, Gil Scott-Heron, Mahalia Jackson, Octavia Butler, Richard Pryor and many others, through music, poetry, speeches, monologues, photography and even stand-up comedy.
She’s brought her troupe to various different venues each year. This year you can catch it at the East Cleveland Public Library on Saturday February 18, or at the Maltz Museum on Wednesday February 22 where she’ll present “Poetic Performances of Activist Poets” inside the gallery that’s currently hosting the exhibit This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement.