“Entertaining with relevance is
what my life’s mission is”
Understanding the power of the written and spoken word, Deborah’s goal became to not only entertain but inspire others’ self-healing through poetry with a comedic twist, and South Florida’s arts community welcomed Deborah with open arms. In between her busy shooting and performing schedule she stayed true to her goal and found a deep passion for working with kids and women artists. With poetry in one hand and music in the other, Deborah set out to work with kids in after school programs funded by Arts For Learning, and personally authored an original poetic program called After School Zen, which she taught in front of 200 kids from first thru sixth grades. She quickly became one of South Florida’s most sought after teaching artists and became a beloved and respected Community Ambassador.
Piano Slam
In the spring of 2009, Deborah co-founded with The Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation Piano Slam, a classical performance and education program, one of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami Dade County community signature outreach programs. Piano Slam hosts an annual poetry and Spoken Word competition throughout title one Miami-Dade County middle and high schools. Not only did she produce and direct Piano Slam in 2009 and 2010, but she went on to become Piano Slams Education and Community Outreach Director from 2016-2021 coordinating school tours, field trips, writing workshops and show rehearsals impacting over 2500 students. The program culminates with a performance by poetry contest finalists accompanied by renowned pianists such as the internationally renowned piano duo Jeroen & Maarten Van Veen and the Wang sisters at the John S. and James L. Knight Music Hall in Miami, FL.
ICA Narratives
During the Winter / Spring of 2017 Deborah was the artist in residence at Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. She facilitated and curated their ICA Narratives Winter / Spring Exhibition. ICA Narratives is an offsite arts program at ICA Miami that works with underserved community organizations. Deborah worked with organizations such as Citrus Health Center for Adolescents, the Detention Center for Juvenile Justice, Lotus House, Pridelines, and South Florida CARES Mentoring Movement at Williams Park. This residency culminated with an open and free to the public exhibit #SpokenSocial Spoken Word That Is Meant To Be Retweeted.
YoungArts
Continuing her work with high school students, in 2010 Deborah was commissioned by National YoungArts Foundation, the sole nominating organization for the U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, to be one of their in-school presenters for their core program YoungArts. Since then she has inspired more than 10000 young artists and helped supervise various master classes led by the likes of Bill T. Jones and Robert Redford.
Ailey Camp Miami
In the summers of 2013 – 2021 Deborah was commissioned to work as the Creative Communications Instructor for the award winning and nationally recognized Ailey Camp Miami by The Alvin Ailey Foundation and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami Dade County. There she taught underserved middle school students how to find their life’s purpose through the art form of Spoken Word.
Let’s Deborah inspire and advocate for your community!
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