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.
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. 
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