Erika Denae J

About the 2023 individual/collective Exposure grant: The $10,000 grant supports Erika Denae J’s continued development of her artistic practice that combines singing, songwriting and creating spaces that engage artists and young adults in her community.

She is a multidisciplinary artist that uses music compositions, production, singing, song-writing and creative writing as tools to encourage others. In addition, she also curate spaces and events that combine all of those is engaging ways.

“As an artist, I speak and create from my experiences and story, I advocate that nothing is too big, small or boring, and that everyone’s story matters, especially underrepresented folk,” she says. “It is out of my experiences with pain, disappointment, love and anger that the most beautiful “pieces” of my creative expression in the form of writing songs and poetry have been produced.”

This grant will help support the creation and release of her sophomore music project titled “In the Mood For” that features original compositions heavily inspired by jazz, blues, gospel, worship, neo-soul, alternative and soft rock genres. It will also be used to support a songbook documenting and illustrating the artist’s journey of making music and an event and mini-series called “Soul-Full Sunday” and “The Singers Tea,” respectively.