Kayatta. It’s a name that comes up whenever people talk about the North Bay’s growing hip-hop scene.
She’s a rapper, poet and classroom educator blazing an unparalleled trail in what it means to be a queer Black artist.
My admiration and respect for her work and its transformative effect on regional arts pulled me off the couch on a cold Monday night to hear about her most recent venture.
We gathered over a meal and listened as Kayatta shared about her collaboration with arts and equity consultants Kimzin Creative and the Petaluma River Park Foundation, an organization creating a new park on McNear Peninsula.
Kayatta facilitated a series of poetry workshops with members of the community, exploring what an ideal park feels like, through writing and giving participants an opportunity to share what Nikko Kimzin of Kimzin Creative notably calls “their genius” with the park designers.
The foundation states, “Only a park built by all can become a place for all.” Kimzin lived these words by inviting organizations such as Petaluma Blacks for Community Development, Petaluma Pride and Amor Para Todos to participate.
After the workshops, Kayatta and Kimzin split the task of analyzing the data. Kayatta combed through the poetry, looking for “golden lines” and prevalent themes. Kimzin performed a more quantitative report using the same poetic data points. These findings were presented to the park’s designers and architects.
The project culminated in recording an original song titled “Feels Like,” where Kayatta incorporated lyrics and ideas from the workshops into a powerful hip-hop anthem. The track was presented in a music video and at an onsite event, along with other project results.
Extraction
This process is incredible in part because it shakes up what “data collection” traditionally looks like. Most organizations seek to gather information using a process Kimzin calls “extraction,” where a neatly tailored survey is distributed, and the predictable results sit on a shelf, never taken very seriously.
Kimzim’s alternate approach focuses on community engagement and exploring the benefits of viewing art as data. In this model, gathering information is just as important as producing the product; the goal is to build relationships and trust while producing meaningful information. These priorities, along with compensation and reimbursement for attendance costs, are essential in community development and removing many barriers historically marginalized groups experience just to show up at meetings like this.
Kayatta used Langston Hughes’ poetry to explain how art can be an excellent source of information. Hughes’ words trace a map of the Great Migration, following Black families on their journeys away from the South. Analyzing this map yields meaningful information beyond dates and locations and includes the voices of the human beings who form the study’s subject.
Data found through art can also create paradigm shifts in how we see familiar things. For example, when asked about safety, most participants mentioned the huge importance of cleanliness and lighting, but didn’t mention police presence at all. This is important information about what safety actually looks like for these community members and an example of the discoveries that can happen when a poet and educator like Kayatta is present to help people envision their own future and use art to express it.
Poet
None of this would work without Kayatta. A collaboration like this could easily slip into cheesy tropes about birds and tulips. But Kayatta pushes for deeper truths and a more valuable picture of the community’s dreams. Indeed, the quality of her artistic vision spread across the project, giving participants real artistic experiences and a chance to reclaim the word “poet” for themselves.
It wasn’t always an easy project. As a middle school teacher in the East Bay, for Kayatta, repeated trips north to run workshops could be difficult. There was also a lot of pressure to quickly master this new extension of her craft, processing the precious words of the community and representing it in a way where everyone feels seen.
But Kayatta moves from a place of faith, with a focus that comes from believing her spiritual access to the muse comes with a responsibility to honor and center her creative work. “The main thing has to be the main thing,” she says, in a statement that is both cryptic and clear as day.
In addition to the obvious community benefits, Kayatta is using this work to push the limits of what it means to be a successful artist in a time when such reevaluation is necessary.
Currently, some of our best musicians are hustling for a cut of $300 and a few drink tickets, playing for half-full rooms. Being commissioned by organizations like River Park, with realistic views on budget and compensation, can be a game-changing addition to any performer’s income model. Most artists also want a sense of meaning in their work and a connection with the larger community as an audience. This kind of work meets both of these needs, even creating a deeper connection with an audience, where they actually give back to the artist in a cyclical way.
If Kayatta’s story is any indication, the “Art as Data” community-centered collection has a future. She has done similar work with Kimzin Creative and the City of Santa Rosa, which helped win Gold in the 4th Annual Anthem Awards for Community Engagement. This is a huge event with 2,300 entries spanning over 30 countries. Other Gold winners included the Obama Foundation, Google and Samsung.
Next
The next chapter of this story is in the hands of the architects and designers of the River Park. The data collection has succeeded with a deeply engaged community and some valuable information. Now, the question is how this information will be utilized.
There’s also a more significant question for us all to work on: When our world seems more driven by data and information daily, will we accept more community-centered models and methods for collecting this critical data—ones that better reflect the kind of world we want to live in?
One can stay involved as the story continues. McNear’s Peninsula is open daily for those who want to walk the trail and see the future site of the Petaluma River Park. On March 1, architectural renderings will be presented at Hall of the Above in Petaluma, and Kayatta will give a special performance.
Learn more about Kayatta at poemsandpaper.com. Kimzin Creative is online at kimzincreative.com.
