Join us for RESPITE: A Pit Stop for Writing With Art! 

RESPITE gives participants the opportunity to slow down amidst the chaos of this city and appreciate art. Join us bimonthly as workshop facilitator UGBA uses the brilliant artwork within Pen & Brush as prompts for creative writing of any genre. This is a generative in-person creative writing workshop with the intention of helping you relax and release.

Image Credit: Ash Edes, The Magician, 2024, Analog collage on linen mat board, 20 × 16 in

ABOUT UGBA

Ungrateful Black Artist (UGBA – 'oog ba') (pronoun inclusive) is a queer poet, rapper, playwright, actor, and activist based out of Brooklyn, NY. His essays and poetry can be found in The Rumpus, The Root, Afropunk, Black Youth Project, The Grio, THEM and elsewhere. UGBA is the founder/host of CEREMONIES—a Brooklyn based monthly Black-Queer artist showcase held in honor of Essex Hemphill. UGBA is also the founder of “Dark-Skin Support Group" a virtual support network for dark-skin Black Americans in need of a space to discuss the realities of colorism. In the summer of 2018, UGBA debuted his one-man show NEPTUNE as the headliner for Dixon Place's annual “Hot Festival.” Following rave reviews and sold-out performances, NEPTUNE was then restaged as the 2019 kick-off event for Brooklyn Museum’s acclaimed “1st Saturday'' series. In 2020, UGBA was named a “Black LGBTQ+ playwright you need to know '' by Time Out NY. He is an alumnus of the Public Theater’s #BARS program. He is a current member of the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group 2020-2023 cohort. He is a 2023 Artivism Fellow through Broadway Advocacy Coalition, a 2022 MAP Grant recipient, a 2020-2021 BAM Resident, former Senior Editor at RaceBaitr.com, and current Artistic Director at NY Writers Coalition.