Art Wire

Each year, our Art Wire Fellows (3-5 adults & 3-5 teens) are invited to experience a variety of performances in OZ Arts Nashville’s season and respond to each show in writing that is deeply engaged, personal, playful, questioning, and curious.

Composition of Original Literary Works

Informed by and in response to the presentations, Art Wire Fellows generate original writing that draws upon performance elements ranging from image to subject matter to thematic content. Selected writings are published online, and the season culminates in a community-based public reading. Want to see what the Art Wire fellows are writing? Check out the Art Wire website to see new pieces as well as an archive of original work from previous years. It’s an eclectic mix of literary voices and genres, including poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms, spoken word, and more.

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our 2024-2025 fellows

Kenieha Boren, known as Kenny Rae, is a poet and spoken word artist from Nashville. After a spiritual awakening, she embraced poetry for healing. Kenny Rae has performed for three years and hosted events like “Self Discovery Through Spoken Word” and “Write & Release: Sound Bath and Poetry Reading.” Notable performances include Clit Tips and the Kindling Arts Festival, where she performed Letter to Jacob with tap dancer Brendan Pinkett.

Alder Brandon is a sophomore at the University School of Nashville. He is passionate about all things art and writing, and frequently spends his free time writing strange short stories. When he is not writing, Alder spends his time painting miniatures, reading, and watching various shows and movies. He has been telling stories his entire life and is extremely excited to compose more of them in association with Oz Arts Art Wire.

Sandra Crouch, MA, is thrilled to be an Artwire Fellow. She is a poet, floral designer, and multi-genre artist living in Nashville. Her writing appears or is forthcoming in Anacapa Review, Jet Fuel Review, Nimrod, Rogue Agent, Rust+Moth, SWING, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Sandra speaks fluent Flower, basic Czech, and is at currently at work on her Southern accent and her first poetry collection. You can read more work at https://sandracrouch.com.

Carson Elliot (they/them) is a poet and educator living in Middle Tennessee after growing up in Northeast Ohio. They are the author of the chapbook Celestial Bodies: A Year of Transgender Love Letters (2023). Their work focuses on the intersections of transness, spirituality, and questions of belonging. Their work can be found in publications such as Ouch! Collective, Third Iris, Fifth Wheel Press, Stirring, and South Broadway Press among others.

Writer and teaching artist Kelly Cass Falzone holds an MFA in Poetry and MSEd in Counselor Education. Her work most recently appears in Stone Canoe, Medmic, Please See Me, and Literary Accents and has received numerous awards including The Bea Gonzalez Prize for Poetry. Although raised in Rochester, NY, Kelly is celebrating thirty years in Nashville where she’s had a long career working with nonprofits such as Oasis Center, Southern Word, and Art & Soul.

Patricia Mitchell grew up in Nashville. A graduate from the University of Alabama, she now works as an archivist. She admires visual and performing artists and is excited to learn from the talented folks at OZ Arts and the Porch.

Marcus Robinson attends Nashville School of the Arts as a Junior of the Literary Arts Conservatory. Marcus is a deep soul who tends to encourage himself to listen, and respond with passion in his heart—than to respond to prove his point. Marcus has been writing poetry for 3 years now, and he—on the side—tends to partner with the organization Southern Word to share his voice. Marcus wishes to expand his creativity.

ArJae "Sensei" Thompson is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Nashville, TN. Within their reclaimed identity of “Sensei”, they have sought to synthesize their passions for sequential art, graphic design, site specific art/mural making, and cartooning to explore esoteric concepts, political thought, and transmedia place-keeping through community engagement and storytelling.

Tsurah (Suh-Rawh) Waire is a senior at Nashville School of the Arts, and she has a silly “T” in her name simply to trip up every person that first meets her. When she’s not writing about the moon, she is either sewing or glued to her screen doing puzzles. She likes to write prose poems and flash fiction, inspired by her surroundings and random lines written in her Notes app.

Lizzie Wimberley is a sophomore at Harpeth Hall and spends most of her time in the theater building; rarely seeing the light of day. When she is not performing, she enjoys mountain biking, environmental activism, singing, and writing: an activity that has allowed her to explore all the other passions she has not been able to fully dig into. Lizzie is also a member of Harpeth Hall’s Green Club and Nashville Theater School’s High School Artists. "She will never be satisfied."

Art Wire

A creative partnership between The Porch and OZ Arts Nashville.

Composition of Original Literary Works

our 2024-2025 fellows

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PROGRAMS

ABOUT

HAPPENINGS

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WRITE

Attend

Read

SUPPORT

Art Wire

A creative partnership between The Porch and OZ Arts Nashville.

Composition of Original Literary Works

our 2024-2025 fellows

We’re saving you a seat.

stay connected

PROGRAMS

ABOUT

HAPPENINGS

SUPPORT

WRITE

Attend

Read

SUPPORT