The Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York City announced on Thursday Mahogany L. Browne will be its first poet-in-residence. The 45-year-old’s work will be featured this month through the residency titled “We Are The Work.”

Browne said that she was “honored” to be chosen as the Lincoln Center’s very first poet-in-residence.

Delighted. Honored. Floored. Hopeful. Ready.
What’s good?

My intention around the curation of “We are the Work” is: to center the heavy and thankful work of being. My purpose is to reimagine our insistence through learning opportunities, and breathing. We are the work is … pic.twitter.com/sXeTvXxpy1

— Mahogany L. Browne (@mobrowne) July 1, 2021

Browne’s residency is presented as a part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s program called “Restart Stages.” The initiative uses art that speaks “to our current moment, and reimagines cultural engagement in public space for a new era,” according to a statement shared with Blavity from the Lincoln Center.

During her residency, Browne will host several events that include film screenings, book readings and a workshop on racial justice writing.

Browne wants those who experience her work to get an authentic feel for who she is and what she represents.

“This residency will include all of the intersections that shaped my process as both artist and advocate. My landscape of being has been impacted by mass incarceration, poetry, social movement work, abolition, immigration, reclamation of joy, youth leadership, literacy, and mental wellness,” Browne said.

“This grouping of writers, artists, movement workers, experts, performers, and educators is a call to the frontline. We are collecting our heartbreaks, our anxieties, our fears, and our desires. We are growing this harvest of impossible humanity; this messy evolution that can grow so much goodness,” she added.

Jordana Leigh, the senior director of programming at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, is excited to collaborate with Browne this summer.

“As we do our part to champion the cultural and economic comeback of our city, it’s incumbent upon us to ensure we’re supporting the voices, stories, and lived experiences of those whose artistry holds up a mirror to our world—even when those stories and experiences may be difficult to see,” Leigh said. “We are so fortunate to be working with Mahogany and the phenomenal group of artists she is convening,”

Browne’s residency will open on July 10.

Mahogany-L-Browne

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