jumatatu m. poe receives 2020 Creative Capital Award
February 17, 2020 • < 1 minute read
Performance still from Let ‘im Move You: This is a Formation.
Choreographer and performer jumatatu m. poe, an NPN-supported artist, is one of the 41 artists selected for the 2020 Creative Capital Awards. The award—which includes $50,000 in project funding and an additional $50,000 in career development services—supports innovative and adventurous artists across the country.
poe is an artist based in Philadelphia who uses performance, media, and environmental location to create performance work that destabilizes notions of identity, especially Black queer identity. In 2018, he received an NPN Creation & Development Fund award to support Let ‘im Move You: This is a Formation, a dance work in collaboration with Dallas-based J-Sette artist Jermone “Donte” Beacham. The work unites Black dancers of various genders to address choreographic, emotional, and spiritual forms present within J-Sette and other Black queer dance vocabularies. With live-constructed music and media design, Formation confronts historic imaginations and limitations of art institutions centering white aesthetics, and outdoor spaces within predominantly Black neighborhoods.
The Creative Capital Award will support terrestrial, a multimedia performance installation with choreography by poe stemming from the majorette lines that became popular at historically Black universities. Read more about terrestrial and the other awarded projects here.