ARTIST STATEMENT

Sean Avery Medlin (they/them) is a rapper, poet, organizer, and teaching artist. Their work integrates music, literature, and theater to question the limits of Black masculinity, media (mis)representation, and personal narrative. They strive for an authentic performance of self, in hopes that they’ll inspire others to examine their own identities. 

CULTURAL WORK: Poetry, Hip-Hop, Theater

Distinguished Visitors in Creative Writing Series Nov 2021
Featured Author
Location: ZOOM (University of Arizona) 

Records of Otherworlds: Book Signing/ Reading for “808s & Otherworlds” Nov 2021

Event Organizer, Producer, Featured Author

Location: Grand Ave Records, Phoenix, AZ 

808s & Grassrootz: Book Signing/ Reading for “808s & Otherworlds” Oct 2021

Event Organizer, Producer, Featured Author

Location: Grassrootz Bookstore, Phoenix, AZ

Open Mic N Otherworld: Book Signing/ Reading for “808s & Otherworlds” Oct 2021

Event Organizer, Producer, Featured Author 

Location: Revolutionary Grounds Books & Coffee, Tucson, AZ

welcome 2 new amerika: Book Signing/ Reading for “808s & Otherworlds” Sept 2021

Event Organizer, Producer, Featured Author

Location: Audubon Southwest, Phoenix, AZ

Youth Poetry Workshops @ Durango Detention Facility Sept 2021 – Dec 2021

Workshop Facilitator / Teaching Artist

Location: Durango Detention Facility, Phoenix, AZ 

Youth Poetry Workshops @ One En Ten (monthly, 1st Tues.) Aug 2021 – Dec 2021

Workshop Facilitator / Teaching Artist

Location: ZOOM (with Piper Center for Creative Writing)

There’s A Lot To Unpack: Artist Showcase + Fundraiser July 2021

Event Organizer, Featured Artist, Producer

Location: Audubon Southwest, Phoenix, AZ

The Monzón Fellowship Retreat July 2021

Workshop Facilitator

Location: Prescott Resort & Conference Center, Prescott, AZ

Camp OUTdoors! @ One En Ten July 2021

Workshop Facilitator

Location: ZOOM (One En Ten & Piper Center)

Park After Dark: Juneteenth Celebration June 2021

Featured Artist

Location: 6th Street Park (with City of Tempe)

Creative Writing Youth Symposium June 2021

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM (with Piper Center for Creative Writing)

Poetry Reading for: Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes June 2021

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM (with Scottsdale Contemporary Museum of Art 

and Emancipation Arts Arizona)

The Rivers Reading: An Open Mic & Fundraiser June 2021

Featured Artist

Location: The Audubon Society, Phoenix, AZ

Black Friday Fundraiser: Reclaim with RE:FRAME Apr 2021

Event Organizer

Location: ZOOM & FB Live (with Mass Liberation Arizona 

& RE:FRAME Youth Arts Center)

OPEN MIC NIGHT Apr 2021

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM (with the Sun Valley Chapter 

of Jack & Jill of america) 

The Craft of the Reading: Performance and Poetry Apr 2021

Lecturer, Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM & FB Live (with Piper Center for Creative Writing)

Youth Poetry Workshops @ One En Ten (monthly, 1st Mon.) Oct 2020 – June 2021

Workshop Facilitator

Location: ZOOM (with Piper Center for Creative Writing)

Shadowdance: An ALL BLACK Trans & GNC Poetry Cypher Feb 2021

Host, Featured Artist

Location: Youtube (with The Transgender District of San Fransisco) 

Face To Face Jan 2021 

Ensemble member, Script-writer 

Location: https://risingyouththeatre.org/face-to-face

Black Friday Fundraiser: You Are What You Eat Nov 2020

Host, Event Organizer

Location: ZOOM & FB Live (with Mass Liberation Arizona)

Unlock The Vote AZ: Artist Showcase Oct 2020

Host, Event Organizer, Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM & FB Live (with Mass Liberation Arizona 

& Unlock the Vote AZ)

Black Friday Fundraiser: What It’s Like In My Skin Oct 2020

Host, Event Organizer

Location: ZOOM & FB Live (with Mass Liberation Arizona 

& Trans Queer Pueblo)

Media 2070 Virtual Launch Party Sept 2020

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM (with Free Press)

2020 Phoenix Youth Poet Laureate Ceremony Sept 2020

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM (with Creative Youth of Arizona)

Black Friday Fundraiser (Black August Edition) Aug 2020

Host, Event Organizer

Location: ZOOM & FB Live (with Mass Liberation Arizona & Trans Queer Pueblo) 

As We Speak: A Black Artist Showcase Aug 2020

Host, Event Organizer, Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM & FB Live (with Palabras Bilingual Bookstore)

As We Speak: A Black-Centered Open Mic Aug 2020

Host, Event Organizer

Location: ZOOM (with Palabras Bilingual Bookstore)

Pillars of Persona: Online Writing Workshop June 2020

Event Organizer, Workshop Facilitator 

Location: ZOOM

The NQRMAL Show: a queer performing arts showcase June 2020

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM & FB Live

Wisconsin People & Ideas Contest Reading June 2020

Featured Artist

Location: FB Live

Desert Rose RWA, Writer’s Presentation & Performance June 2020

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM

The Local, with ASU Gammage April 2020

Featured Artist

Location: ZOOM & FB Live

Tucson Poetry Festival April 2020

Fellow, Performer & Generative Workshop Facilitator 

Location: Solar Culture Gallery, Tucson, AZ (moved to ZOOM & FB Live)

Expressions at ASU Gammage April 2020

Featured Artist

Location: ASU Gammage (moved to ZOOM)

House of Pentacles: Trans Day of Celebration Party March 2020

Panelist & Performer

Location: ZOOM

Queer Poetry Salon Feb 2020

Featured Artist

Location: Palabras Billungal Bookstore, Phoenix, AZ

February First Friday @PhxArt Feb 2020

Event Organizer, Host & Performer 

Location: Phoenix Art Museum

I Got The Last Word Poetry Contest – Season 2 Jan – Feb 2020

Performer (Second Place contestant) 

Location: Aroma Mocha Coffee, Avondale, AZ

Desert Nights, Rising Stars Fellows Reading + Conference Jan-Feb 2020

Fellow, Performer & Generative Workshop Facilitator 

Location: Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ + Old Main, Tempe, AZ

The Reading Series Presents: The Capricorn Reading Jan 2020

Featured Artist

Subspace Art Collective, Tucson, AZ

Phoenix Poetry Orchestra featuring Sean Avery Jan 2020

Featured Artist

Location: FilmBar, Phoenix, AZ

Trans Week of Celebration: Poetry Nov 2019

Performer

Location: The Coronado, Phoenix, AZ

skinnyblk performing arts showcase Oct 2019

Event Organizer, Workshop Facilitator, Producer & Performer

Location: Azukar Coffee, Phoenix, AZ

Futuros Unidos + Q.Y.A.S. (Queer Youth Art Showcase) April 2019

Performance Workshop Facilitator & Featured Artist 

Location: Thornhill-Lopez Center on 4th, Tucson, AZ

skinnyblk (original rap album & devised play) Jun 2018 – Jan 2019

Writer, Performer & Co-Director

Location(s): Empty Space Theater (ASU Media & Performing Arts Building), Tempe, AZ, Uplift Community High School + Chicago Hip-Hop Theater Festival (Clarendon Park, Chicago, IL)

TEACHING ARTIST EMPLOYMENT

ASU Virginia Piper Center Teaching Artist Aug 2020 – Current

Teaching Artist & Workshop Facilitator 

• Develop creative writing workshops, lesson plans, and curriculum
• Produce an anthology of student work 
• Maintain relationships with staff and students at multiple locations
• Cultivate the safest possible creative space for youth

Mass Liberation Arizona June 2020 – June 2021

Cultural Worker & Digital Organizer

• Daily manage the organization’s social media 
• Organize, produce, and host a series of local art-showcases and fundraisers
• Create cultural content for org campaigns, projects, and programs (ie video scripts, assist with graphics, music choice, etc)
• Maintain partnerships with local, value-aligned, organizations
• Build political and creative educational curriculum 
• Lead communications with granters interested in programs / projects around healing, art, or narrative shift

Childsplay: Theatre for Kids & Families May 2017 – Current 

Teaching Artist & Project Coordinator

• Plan weekly lesson plans for youth based on performance objectives 
• Direct youth theatre presentations
• Provide childcare for youth at the beginning and end of each day
• Co-teach theatre activities with other Teaching Artists and interns 
• Conduct professional development for Preschool teachers
• Create Preschool theatre curriculum to teach social-emotional skills
• Manage preparation for meetings, In-Services, and lessons
• Work as an assistant for education programs
• Develop online content, storybook readings, and socio-emotional-learning lesson plans

Free Arts of Arizona for Abused Children July 2017 – Mar 2020

Teaching Artist (seasonal)

• Plan writing and performance workshops once a week
• Cultivate the safest possible creative space for youth
• Participate and perform in the culminating showcase 
• Prepare students to share at the culminating showcase 

South Pointe High School July 2017 – May 2019

Creative Writing Teacher, English Teacher, Credit Recovery

• Planned weekly lesson plans based on Arizona ELA state standards
• Instructed 1-2 classes Mon-Fri (depending on the quarter)
• Graded & assessed student assignments
• Coordinated student showcases and performances 
• Tutored after-school for both informational and creative writing

ARTISTIC WORKSHOP FACILITATION

• “Building Protected Worlds” a generative writing workshop Nov 2021
• Durango Detention Facility Writing Workshops Sept – Dec 2021

• One•N•Ten Youth Poetry Writing Workshops Jan – June 2020, Oct 2020 – June 2021, Aug 2021- Dec 2021

• Slam! Poetry, Childsplay Online Class May 2020

• Tucson Poetry Festival Generative Workshop April 2020
• RE:FRAME Youth Art Residency @ South Pointe HS Feb – April 2020
• Noname Book Club (international book club) Feb – July 2020   
• Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference Feb 2020
• skinnyblk performing arts showcase Writing Workshops June – Sept 2019
• Queer Youth Art Showcase Performance Workshop April 2019

LECTURES & PANELS / SPEECHES

• “Dialogue with Anthony Cody, Sean Avery Medlin, and Dianna Settles”, ZOOM, Lost in the Letters (Festival), Atlanta, Georgia and Phoenix, Arizona, 13 November 2021 (upcoming)  
• “FUCK YOUR TABLE (Panelist), ZOOM, La Phoenikara, Phoenix, Arizona, 6 October 2020
• “Artists for Change Vol 3, Master of Your Craft (Panelist & Performer)”, Lakeside Presentation Space, Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, Arizona, 15 December 2018
• “Jeff Chang in Conversation: ‘From Hip Hop to Policy Making, Performative Panel (Panelist & Performer)’”, Civic Space Park/ A.E. England Building, Phoenix, Arizona, 11 Sept 2018
• “Real Boy Documentary Screening (Panelist)” Project Humanities (ASU), Changing Hands Bookstore, Phoenix, AZ, 23 May 2017

PRESS

The Best Music We Heard In Metro Phoenix In 2021
Phoenix New Times, Chris Coplan (December 2021)

Grandiose and Mythic, Beautiful and Dangerous: On Sean Avery Medlin’s “808s & Otherworlds”
Cleveland Review of Books, Conor Bracken (December 2021)

Every Rap Is A Poem: A Conversation With Sean Avery Medlin
Los Angeles Review Of Books, Michelle Beaver (December 2021)

Emerging Writers | Remarkable Reads 2021
Changing Hands Bookstore, Michelle Malonzo (December 2021)

Most Anticipated Small Press Releases: September-December 2021
Big Other, John Madera (December 2021)

Our Best Adult Books Of 2021
Phoenix Public Library, N/A (Staff) (December 2021)

Bookin’ w / Sean Avery Medlin
“Bookin’” (Quailridge Books Podcast), Jason Jefferies (November 2021)

Something Thrilling Comes This Way; Honoring Black Poetry Day
“Word” (KJZZ Podcast), Tom Maxedon (October 2021)

Interview With Sean Avery Medlin
TriQuarterly, Joshua Bohnsack (October 2021)

Who Defends The Defenders?: The Hulk, Hip Hop, And Sean Avery Medlin’s 808s & Otherworlds
F(R)Iction, Dominic Loise (September 2021)

Interview With Sean Avery Medlin
Geeks Out, Michele Kirichanskaya (September 2021)

Sunday Morning! “808s & Otherworlds” By Sean Avery Medlin
Ordinary Times, Rufus F. (September 2021)

In Conversation With Sean Avery Medlin
Avocado Diaries, Sean Loughran (September 2021)

The Great 2021 Fall Book Preview: Our 60 Best Reads For Right Now
Chicago Tribune, Christopher Borrelli (September 2021)

Sean Avery Medlin’s Poetry Makes Room For Gaming And Superheroes
Phoenix New Times, Robrt L. Pela (September 2021)

Pageturners: Literature Racing Against Time, Ghosts, Past Decisions, And Police In The 1960s,
The Root, Bella Morais (September 2021)

808s & Otherworlds: An Interview With Sean Avery
Michigan Quarterly Review, Sam Small (September 2021)

The Five Best Songs From Phoenix Musicians In August
Phoenix New Times, Chris Coplan (August 2021)

45 Books By Black Authors You Can Read Before, After & During Black History Month
Paperbackparis.com, Paris Close (February 2021)

They Don’t All Make Headlines: 10 Poets You Need to Know in Phoenix Area
Phoenixnewtimes.com, Lynn Trimble (May 2019)

skinnyblk: New Play Explores Gender, Sexuality and Toxic Masculinity
laphoenikera.com, Ayo Sinplaneta (Oct 2018)

Five Questions: “‘Nigga: A Monologue’s’ Sean Avery”
Lakefrontrow.com, David Klein (April 2016)

Nigga: A Monologue – Sean Avery
Afropunk.com, Lou Constant-Desportes (March 2016)

This video will make you think about the n-word and its place in American culture
Blavity.com, Blavity Team (Dec 2015)

PUBLICATIONS

• Debut Collection
  • “808s & Otherworlds: Memories, Remixes and Mythologies”, Two Dollar Radio, Print, Audio, 110 pages, 3hr 10min, Sept 2021
• Poetry
  • “Small Press Release: 808s & Otherworlds (An Excerpt)”, ENTROPY, Electronic, September 2021, N/A
  • “Three Poems”, Write on Downtown: A Journal of Phoenix Creativity, Electronic, April 2020, N/A
  • “Four Poems from ‘Otherworld”, ChArt: Celebrating the Humanities Through Art, Print & Electronic, March 2020, Pg. 53, 57, 63, 89
  • “Dear Masculinity,” Maskuline x Dear Masculinity Chapbook, Print, Pg. 4, April 2017
  • “skinny-black jeans,” Art Hoe Collective, August 2016, Electronic, N/A  
  • “Otherworld,” Illumination: Undergrad Journal of Humanities, Dec 2015, Print, Pg. 22  
  • “In My Dreams,” Illumination: Undergraduate Journal of Humanities, December 2015, Print, Pg. 23 
    • Wisconsin People & Ideas Magazine, May 2015, Print, Pg. 69
  • “Prayer (Song) For Magic,” Wisconsin People & Ideas Magazine, May 2015, Print, Pg. 68
  • “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” Toothtaker, Print, February 2014
  • “Toast,” The Blue Guitar Magazine, Fall 2010, Print, Pg. 19
• Essays
  • “new amerika (v)”, Indiscernibles in Arizona: On the hope and reality of being Black in Arizona (Anthology), Print, Pg. 9-10, Emancipation Arts, September 2021
  • “Rap Music is Becoming Unsafe for Black People,” Msc.wisc.edu, Electronic, April 2016 

AWARDS/HONORS 

• Governor’s Arts Award Nominee Jan 2021
• Black Male Excellence Award, Delta Sigma Theta Feb 2016
• Mentorship Award, OMAI/First Wave Feb 2016, Jan 2015
• 2nd Place Poetry Contest, Wisconsin Academy May 2015
• Marion McCammond Award, Wisconsin Union Directorate Mar 2015

EDUCATION

University of Madison-Wisconsin May 2016

• Bachelor of Arts in English with an Emphasis in Creative Writing
  • Certificate in African-American Studies