Buckham Fine Arts Project is pleased to announce its second Writer In Residence: Natasha Thomas.
Photo courtesy of Lyn Williams
BFAP’s is pleased to announce our second Writer in Residence, Natasha Thomas.
Thomas will produce written components responding to each exhibition, plus additional content that will respond to topical issues and personal research. This collaboration will provide an opportunity for Thomas to engage with her interest in visual art and gain exposure for her literary arts, and engage Flint’s BIPOC community in a meaningful way. BFAP is actively seeking to grow deeper ties within our community. Compositions and more to be compiled with exhibition programming in a publication at the season’s end, September 2022.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Natasha and promote her. Buckham is always looking to support artists while providing opportunities to engage with challenging contemporary art and experience new ways of looking and thinking,” explained Buckham Executive Director Michele Leclaire.
Natasha Thomas is a writer, performance artist, political organizer, community strategist, and visual curator with 20 years of experience working in the fields of arts-activism, public administration, public health, holistic wellness, spirituality, and advocacy. She is the current founder/director of The Nadoma Center for Social Justice & Spiritual Transformation and the Genesee County Coordinator for the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health. In both her personal and professional lives, she is guided by the values, principles, practices, and rituals of liberation movements and ancestral wisdom traditions.
“In many ways, Buckham Gallery is emblematic of the city of Flint - small but mighty. Tenacious. Collaborative. Committed to being a space for both creativity and community. I love this about our city and I love it about Buckham Gallery. I am particularly excited about this project because it facilitates the natural alliance between words and imagery. Some of the most creative and transformative arts experiences I have had, have involved powerful and thought-provoking imagery paired with evocative and illustrative language,” said Thomas.
Natasha Thomas is a writer, performance artist, political organizer, community strategist, and visual curator with 20 years of experience working in the fields of arts-activism, public administration, public health, holistic wellness, spirituality, and advocacy. She is the current founder/director of The Nadoma Center for Social Justice & Spiritual Transformation and the Genesee County Coordinator for the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health. In both her personal and professional lives, she is guided by the values, principles, practices, and rituals of liberation movements and ancestral wisdom traditions.
As the co-founder/former executive director of RAISE IT UP! Youth Arts & Awareness (RIU), she launched an award-winning nonprofit organization that promoted youth engagement, expression, and empowerment through performance, literary arts, and activism. RIU’s work has been featured in Teen Vogue, National Public Radio (NPR), PBS NewsHour, NowThis, Huffington Post, Hyperallergic , Mashable, Vulture, Yahoo , Revolt, and more.
In 2012, the Detroit Pistons recognized her work and through their Come Together Foundation, honored her as one of their first Community Impact Awardees, granting $25,000 to support her work. She received the The Sybyl Atwood Award for Servant Leadership and was awarded a residency at the Windcall Institute.
As the former Regional Organizing Director for NextGen America, she served as part of a statewide leadership team of directors and field organizers who mobilized on 61 college campuses, registered 39,000 voters, engaged 1,650 volunteers, and knocked on 125,000 doors to turn out historic youth vote numbers in the 2018 Michigan midterm election. She directly managed the team of organizers who registered 60% of the new voters in Genesee County and 30% of the new voters in Saginaw County in Michigan in 2018. Her work was featured in Blavity.
In 2019, she partnered with world-renowned cellist and advocate, Yo-Yo Ma and the University of Michigan Musical Society (UMS) to host the “Culture, Community, & Resilience - Day of Action. She also co-produced and curated the project finale, which featured Yo-Yo Ma sharing the stage with local artists for a free community concert. Her work on this project was featured in Broadway World. In 2021, Natasha collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, UMS, Tunde Olaniran, and other Michigan artists for the Travel Guide to Talking Hearts project.
In 2021, Natasha partnered with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project and served as speaker/presenter at the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Global Training.
As a writer, Natasha has contributed to digital publications and academic journals including The Hollywood Reporter, Kalfou: A Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies, The Body is Not an Apology (TBINAA), and more. She also wrote the foreword for IMAGN – Increasing Minority Awareness of Genetics Now, a report co-sponsored by the Black Congressional Caucus and John Hopkins University Genetics and Public Policy Center.
Natasha has performed for Harry Belafonte’s inaugural Many Rivers to Cross Music & Social Justice Festival, #SayHerName: An Evening of Arts hosted by the African American Policy Forum, Busboys & Poets, and a number of venues and events merging performance art and activism. As a performer and speaker, she’s shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, bell hooks, Janelle Monae, Andra Day, Chris Rock, Public Enemy, Musiq Soulchild, Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana, Angela Davis, Ryan Coogler, Robert Redford, John Legend, and more.
Through the African-American Policy Forum, Natasha has worked directly under the tutelage of renowned black feminist & legal scholar, Dr. Kimberle’ Crenshaw, a pioneer in critical race theory and mother of the term “intersectionality.” She was also a member of the Black Women’s Roundtable Delegation at the White House, which spoke to the critical issues facing Black women and girls.
Natasha enjoys reading, yoga, meditation, hearthcrafting, interior design, tarot, officiating weddings, and spending time with her 3 kids, 2 cats, and myriad house plants.