Keynote Speakers

Image Credit: Diego M. Rivera, Detroit Industry, North Wall, 1932-1933, fresco. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Edsel B. Ford, 33.10.N.

"Infrastructure of Power & Care: Energy Justice and Community Writing as Design"

Centering stories of exclusion, resistance, and resilience in community writing enables us to attend to how energy infrastructures have not only perpetuated spatial, gender, racial, and economic injustice, but also design and power more equitable and sustainable futures.

Donnie Johnson SackeyDonnie Johnson Sackey is an assistant professor of rhetoric & writing in the Department of Rhetoric & Writing at The University of Texas at Austin where he teaches courses in environmental communication, information design, user-experience design, and nonprofit writing. He serves on the steering committee of the Polymathic Scholars Honors Program and the Bridging the Disciplines Smart Cities faculty panel. His research centers on the dynamics of environmental public policy deliberation, environmental justice, and environmental community-based participatory research. His research has previously been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Institute for Population Studies, Health Assessment, Administration, Services and Economics, and the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors. He previously served on the board of the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition and as a senior researcher with Detroit Integrated Vision for Environmental Research through Science and Engage (DVERSE). Currently, he is a non-resident fellow with the Center on Global Energy Policy’s CarbonTech Development Initiative at Columbia University. His research has appeared in Communication Design Quarterly, Community Literacy Journal, Present Tense, Rhetoric Review, Technical Communication Quarterly, and various edited collections. He is the author of Trespassing Natures: Species Migration and the Right to Space (Ohio State UP 2024).

Use the discount code SACKEY for 30% off on paperback copies.

InsideOut Literary Arts LogoInsideOut Literary Arts Keynote Event

InsideOut Literary Arts is Detroit’s oldest and largest literary organization. With a mission to inspire and equip students to think critically, create bravely, and share their voices with the wider world, we serve upwards of 2500 youth and adults annually through in-school, after-school and community programs.
 
As part of this keynote event, participants will have an opportunity to learn about our community programs which bring writing workshops, intergenerational dialogue and youth and adult performances to community serving organizations and institutions to enhance their missions through poetry. InsideOut Writers and students who have been immersed in our partnership work with Detroit Zoological Society and Hannan Center will share their experiences and poetry. The keynote session will offer opportunity for writing and discussion, and participants will deepen their connection to each other and to the power of the written and spoken word.
 
Jacqueline Suskin is the author of nine books, including A Year in Practice and The Verse for Now. She has composed over forty thousand improvisational poems with her writing project, Poem Store. Suskin lives in Detroit where she works with InsideOut Literary Arts, bringing nature poetry into urban classrooms.
 
Xavier Jackson is a Thriving Together and Trio Upward Bound Alumni who has had poems published in three different books, including Our Own Light, Thriving Together Poets in their Natural Habitat, and Black Summers. They are a born-and-raised Detroit Poet who has worked with InsideOut for nearly six years, focusing primarily on spoken word poetry. They are currently a college student attending Wayne State in pursuit of a Bachelors in Education, and currently work with Trio Upward Bound Detroit and Thriving Together, where they aim to provide representation and inspiration to classrooms.
 
D’Nae Hearn is a senior education specialist at the Detroit Zoo, with a focus on community outreach, teen, and adult programming. She enjoys cooking, nature photography, and the many programs offered in collaboration with the communities the Detroit Zoo serves.
 
The Prison Creative Arts ProjectThe Prison Creative Arts Project brings those impacted by the justice system together with the University of Michigan community for artistic collaboration, mutual learning, and growth. 
 
Founded in 1990 with a single theatre workshop, the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) has grown to include undergraduate courses, exhibitions, publications, and events that reach thousands of individuals each year and engage with arts and incarceration.
 
During this keynote event, you will hear from the PCAP team about our mission, values, and work surrounding our annual exhibition of artists in Michigan prisons, the world’s largest display of its kind, featuring the life-affirming creative work of artists from Michigan prisons. You’ll learn about the PCAP workshop process and hear a reading from artists who have contributed to PCAP publications and events. 
James Adrian bio: 

My name is James Adrian, though many know me by my stage name, Bigdripp734. I have been performing poetry and spoken word since 2011, using my voice and creativity as a platform for truth, healing, and inspiration. I hold an Associate’s Degree in the Arts, and I am also the founder of my own company, Making A Way, which is dedicated to empowering communities through youth literacy, poetry, creative arts, and community violence intervention.

Over the years, my work has been featured in a variety of respected spaces and collaborations. I have performed with the University of Michigan’s Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) ten times, and I have also been featured with the University of Clemson’s Flying Kites, Fisher of Men Prison Ministry, Hamtramck Free School, The Periphery Magazine, The Atonement Project, and the online platform AllPoetry.com. In addition, I partnered with The Linkage Project to create a YouTube piece titled Tell Me One Truth About Prison, which continues to resonate with audiences.

My style is raw, honest, and deeply human—rooted in both lived experience and artistic expression. I bring to the stage a blend of facts, emotion, and resilience that invites audiences to laugh, cry, heal, and grow together. Every performance is not just art, but a journey toward transformation.

COME BE GREAT!

 
James Fuson bio:
James Fuson is an artist, poet, and Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow.  
 
 
Charles Brooks bio:
I am Big C to the people on the inside. To my wives I am Papi. To my mother I am Chatles. To the world, I am the lens from which all observation begins. I am the author of 2 collections of poetry, one novel, and the most published poetry in PCAP history. Most importantly, I am a person in the position to make a difference. Help me, help US.
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