Tonya Matthews, PhD, is not only the vice president of museums at Cincinnati Museum Center, she is also Ja Hipster, a talented poet and spoken word performer. It is for her work as Ja Hipster that she received a $6,000 Cincinnati Arts Ambassador Fellowship grant.
Just five years ago, Matthews moved to downtown Cincinnati from Maryland to work at the Museum Center. She wrote a book of poetry,“Still Swinging’ These Hips,” and made a spoken-word CD, “The Legend of Afrodite.”
With the new grant money, she plans to create her second book of poetry as well as her second CD. Currently, she is deciding whether she wants the CD to accompany the book, or if she wants to keep the mediums separate.
Matthews hopes that the artists’ grants and their projects will open up the conversation about the arts and help open doors for other artists.
“I think poetry is a very different kind of conversation,” Matthews says. “People hear things that poets say that they don’t hear in general conversations or in speeches.
“What I have noticed, particularly since I do a lot of sociopolitical stuff, is that I can have conversations with people that normally make them uncomfortable. But because I’m a poet, I get away with bringing up the subject. And not only do I get away with the subject, but people are comfortable to have that conversation.”
Her poetry is observational and sociopolitical, tending to focus on women and young people. “I think at the end of the day, like a lot of people, I’m just trying to save the world,” Matthews laughs. “You know—one line of poetry at a time.”
At Duke University, she wrote for the student newspaper and the university journal, which featured student artwork and writing. As a graduate student at John Hopkins University, she started reading her poetry in public. Now, whenever she speaks or performs at specific events, she says she likes to write one new poem to perform. Because of this, she is mostly working on editing for her new poetry book.
Last year, Matthews collaborated with the
Cincinnati Ballet for New Works, which received rave reviews and sparked conversation. With her work, Matthews hopes to have an impact on the city.
“Artists do tend to be heavily influenced by their environment,” Matthews says. “It’s not just how our art is influencing Cincinnati, but it’s also how Cincinnati is affecting our art.”
Do Good:
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Contribute to a visit to the Cincinnati Museum Center.
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Donate to the Cincinnati Museum Center.
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Purchase Matthew’s cd or book.
By Stephanie Kitchens
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