• Participants will participate in an October artist retreat focused on self-publishing poetry. The convening will engage participants in embodied healing practices, meditative art making, and a strategy session that supports the cultural impact of the community’s creative work.

  • To support participants with building up their network, the poets will engage together in a virtual Kitchen Table Talks (KTT) alongside their cohort members with an invited guest.

  • The cohort will work collectively to curate a selection of work for The Beautiful Project’s upcoming publication, which explores identity-based healing and wellness through literary and visual arts.

  • To support continued investment in their craft, each participant will receive a stipend of $750 at the end of the program. Participants will be also given free access of TBPs office spaces and computers during the program upon request.

This program sources its inspiration from the poet Nikki Giovanni, one of the foremost poets of the Black Arts Movement. Her prolific and award-winning collection of work, as well as her activism over decades, illustrate Giovanni’s deep love for her people and the vital role of Black poets in American culture. This program is made possible through an Equity in Verse Grant from the Poetry Foundation. The Poetry Foundation recognizes the power of words to transform lives and works to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry.

Nikki’s Table is an intensive peer learning cohort occuring in fall 2024 to support poets ready to publish. The program responds to the significant underrepresentation of Black published writers by supporting 4 Black women and nonbinary poets in completing and advancing bodies of written work in preparation for publication. Nikki's Table provides young emerging writers with granted fiscal support, peer guidance, and curated artist talks to build their networks and receive mentorship as they engage in individual and collective creative work for publication.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Meet the Team

  • Madylin Nixon-Taplet

    DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

    (she/her) Madylin is a North Carolina based freelance photographer who specializes in Photographic Hyperrealism. As Director of Artist Training for The Beautiful Project her ambition is to teach young, Black artists the way of intentional creation and its impact on narrative freedom. Her goal is to foster within them the potential of cultivating their own voice and power with the discovery and development of individual creative processes empowered through community engagement. As a New Orleans native, she's been in loving community with Black folx for as long as she can remember, and has always had a passion for navigating  her people through socio-political, expansive practices that aid and expand the Black experience as a whole.

  • Maurisa Li-A-Ping

    CURRICULUM DIRECTOR

    is a Black queer writer, educator, and the founder of Tulips in the Garden. She uses poetry to preserve the interiority of Black queer womxn and honor our narratives as a philosophy for empowerment and resilience. Maurisa's work can be found in Puerto del Sol, Up the Staircase Quarterly, New Delta Review, The Offing, Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, and elsewhere. Maurisa's accolades include being a poetry Pushcart Prize-nominee, Watering Hole Fellow, Furious Flower Poetry Prize finalist, Nancy Craig Blackburn Fellow, Blood Orange Review Poetry Contest Winner, and a Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Alumni Microgrant recipient. She has earned an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education Student Affairs from Indiana University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Randolph College. 

    Learn more about Maurisa here https://www.maurisaliaping.com/.

  • Dr. Brittney Cofield-Poole

    RETREAT WELLNESS FACILITATOR

    An advocate for wellness and equity, Brittney brings a wealth of experience with a B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago and a Ph.D. in Applied Social & Community Psychology from North Carolina State University. Her career path spans over 15 years in program development, translational research, and public service. Leading with a passion for restorative experiences and the creation of safe wellness spaces for BIPOC individuals, she is dedicated to empowering both individuals and communities through mindfulness, program development, and equity-focused strategies.

    Today, she is on a journey to merge her creative passions with her role as a connector, inspired by the support of loved ones who were denied the opportunity to explore curiosity. Brittney finds her strength in embracing change and redefining expectations, helping others nurture their boundaries. Her current focus is on the bold dream of leading individuals like herself on an enduring healing journey.