This year AS220 has been working on creating several residencies in order to build leadership in the arts. We asked these young artists to tell us a little bit about what they do, why they do it, and how they became involved with AS220. Here’s what Katie had to say:

Hey! I’m Katie Clark. I’m a writer, a musician, an Interviews-Editor at Vagabond City, and a cultural asset mapping intern with AS220. As a writer, I work a lot with intimacy, trauma, gender, and the South. I have a chapbook called our own soft that is coming out in August with Nostrovia Press, but you can catch my work in Tinderbox Journal, Spilled Milk Magazine, and some others if you just Google “katie clark poems.” Interestingly, if you just Google “Katie Clark,” you’ll find out about an Olympic synchronized swimmer, or a Congresswoman for Massachusetts. Both are doing great stuff, but those two are not this one.

With Vagabond City, I interview writers and artists who are not only making incredible and important art, but whose work speaks to something bigger than themselves. Most of the people I interview play active roles within their communities, both those that come from location and from identity.

This summer, I am a Cultural Asset intern with Shey Rivera. Although I’ve been doing a little bit of everything around the Dreyfus, I am mainly shadowing Shey’s community engagement work. The central project that I’m working on is a map that serves as both a meaningful representation of and a functional resource for the cultural and artistic organizations in Rhode Island. This project has been made possible with the help of Providence’s Arts, Culture, & Tourism Department. Additionally, I’ve been working with the Providence Cultural Equity Initiative, and with various institutions including the Mellon Foundation and the Middle East Institute to organize events. These events have included panels, readings, and community dialogues. With PCEI and the AS220 Print Shop, I am helping to design The Cultural Equity Guidebook.

When I’m not doing any of these things, I work with the goats at Roger Williams Park and study anthropology and poetry at Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts.

Twitter: @octupiwallst
Chapbook: http://nostroviapress.bigcartel.com
Interviews: https://vagabondcitylit.com/?s=katie+clark