Featured Artist Workshops

Every featured artist of Open Stage collaborates with Elgin Bokari Smith to develop an accessible but revealing writing workshop based on each artist’s creative process, expanding their capacities to engage their communities. The

audiences at Open Stage events are then prompted to write themselves, creating a

heightened sense of interaction among the attendees and the guest artists who model youth agency and inspire their audiences. A wide range of community members who have signed up to perform then present new works in progress, creating a strong sense of community development, followed by performances by the guest artists themselves. The Open Stage events culminate with rituals of mutual positive affirmation.