March 6, 2025 (New York)—To celebrate Women’s History Month, Jamaica Center for Arts and

Learning (JCAL) presents the second annual Strength, Courage & Wisdom, a performance of spoken

word, storytelling, and dance on Saturday, March 29, 8pm, at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center

(153-10 Jamaica Avenue). Exploring a wide range of women's voices, the theme for this year’s

Strength Courage & Wisdom is Sankofa-style wisdom. (Sankofa is an Akan word meaning “to

retrieve.”)

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/strength-courage-wisdom-2025-tickets-1219564673769?aff=oddtdtcreator

Curated by JCAL Director of Program Operations Wendy Arimah Berot, the all-female cast and crew

of Strength, Courage & Wisdom is led by acclaimed spoken-word poet, performer, and LGBT activist

Staceyann Chin, who notably appeared on Def Poetry Jam and whose work has appeared in The New

York Times and The Washington Post as well as featured on 60 Minutes.

Poets returning for a second year include Renee Joshua-Porter, Tracey Irvin, and Cheryl "Mama Phife"

Boyce-Taylor, whose life papers and portfolio are held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black

Cultural Studies in Harlem. This year's cast also includes poets Keys Will and Jasmine "JRose" Rosario

(winner of the 2023 BRIC Brooklyn Grand Slam Finals and Nuyorican Poets Cafe Slam), and there will

be a dance tribute to the late poet and writer Nikki Giovanni, choreographed and performed by Jaria

Morris.

“Spiritually, for many, wisdom is personified as a woman,” said Berot in a statement. “The lyrics of a

song coined as a feminist anthem in 1972—'I am wisdom born of pain,’ from Helen Reddy's ‘I Am

Woman,’ celebrate the triumphs that women have experienced despite unfavorable social, political,

and personal conditions. Pain can be struggles, challenges, physical, mental, or emotional, but the

lesson, the wisdom from that pain, is our focus. The interpretation of pain is left up to the artist.”

Tickets are available for $10 at www.JCAL.org

Meet the Cast

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is a Trinidadian immigrant poet raised in Queens, New York, and the author of seven poetry collections, including her most recent, The Limitless Heart: New and Selected Poems (1997-2022). Boyce-Taylor’s verse memoir, Mama Phife Represents, a tribute to her son Malik (aka Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest), was awarded the 2021 Publishing Triangle Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry.

Keys Will is a spoken wordsmith, lyricist, teaching artist, and published author from Queens, New York. She has been writing poetry for over two decades and performed on many stages, including the Bowery, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Lehman College, Poetry Me Please, JCAL, and WAN Poetry, to name a few. Keys is also the published author of Chrysalis: Not Quite The Butterfly, a poetic memoir available on Amazon.

Jaria Morris is a dedicated dancer and instructor specializing in hip-hop, ballet, Afrofusion, Soca, tap, and jazz. They began dancing at the age of three, training at Pat’s Dance Studio, where they now teach. Diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age two, Morris initially turned to dance for health reasons, but it quickly became a lifelong passion and source of inspiration. They continued their education at Nassau Community College and Queens College, deepening their understanding of movement and its transformative power. Through teaching and performing, Jaria strives to share the joy and resilience that dance has given them.

JRose is a distinguished spoken word artist from Queens, New York, and CEO of The Rose Garden Events. Celebrated for winning the 2023 BRIC Brooklyn Grand Slam and hosting at Bowery Poetry Club, she merges poetry with corporate realms, collaborating with entities like Samsung. JRose also enriches the community as a mentor and teacher. Anticipation grows for her 2024 poetry album and book, marking her as a beacon in the poetic and entrepreneurial landscape.

Renee Joshua-Porter is a multidisciplinary artist with over 35 years of experience as an educator, performer, playwright, and director. She founded The Burning Bush Family Foundation Inc., using multimedia arts to uplift underserved communities. A former Alvin Ailey teaching artist and FEMA crisis counselor, she merges storytelling with healing, addressing themes of resilience, identity, and justice. Her acclaimed works, Backbone and Crossroads, explore motherhood and mental health. A chaplain and counselor, she partners with organizations to serve marginalized populations. Splitting her time between New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands, she empowers others through the transformative power of storytelling.

Staceyann Chin is a poet, actor, performing artist, and author. Her body of work includes the new poetry collection Crossfire: A Litany For Survival, the critically acclaimed memoir The Other Side of Paradise, and she was a cowriter and original performer in the Tony– winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. She is also the author of the onewoman shows Hands Afire, Unspeakable Things, Border/Clash, and MotherStruck. She has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and 60 Minutes, and her poetry has been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post. She proudly identifies as Caribbean, Black, Asian, lesbian, a woman, and a resident of New York City, as well as a Jamaican national.

Tracey Irvin is a longtime resident of Queens who works for one of the biggest healthcare systems in NY and serves as a board member for social services in the large co-op that she lives in. Irvin has been writing since she was a teenager. She has found that poetry has been the best way to get people to understand the depths of her feelings while she heals herself. Irvin has a collection of poetry titled Feelings Not Facts, Limericks of Life, and Expressions of the Heart, which is her journey in life expressed by her

feelings.