By PAGE LEGGETT

If anyone needed renewal – and deserved some R&R – it was de’Angelo DIA.

For the past 25 years, he’s been what he called “tri-vocational.” He’s divided his time among three roles – educator, clergyman and professional artist. He shared that in his application for a 2024 ASC Creative Renewal Fellowship.

He added, “I decided to step away from the constraints of a 9-5 and pursue a career as a full-time artist beginning in 2024. The Creative Renewal Fellowship is a restorative opportunity that will contribute not only to my understanding of my voice as a poet, but also to expanding my reach as an ambassador of the arts in Charlotte.”

DIA has support from a wide range of impressive poets in the Carolinas – Jaki Shelton Green, North Carolina’s poet laureate; Glenis Redmond, the poet laureate for Greenville, South Carolina; Jay Ward, Charlotte’s poet laureate; and Angelo Geter, Rock Hill’s poet laureate. 

A list of themes his poetry deals with is lengthy, too – the rise and fall of athletes of color, grief as a reaction to the abuse of power and authority, mass incarceration, the psychology of parenting.

His influences? It’s another long list that includes “comic book mythology, theological imagination and contemplation, poet and performance artist Saul Williams, writer Shel Silverstein, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and poet Nikki Giovanni.”

‘Power, passion and vision’  

The review committee liked what they saw in DIA’s application. They awarded him the full $15,000 he requested.

Ivan Garnica, ASC’s grant manager, said one reviewer wrote, “I love the power, passion, vision and hope he expresses throughout the application.” Another wrote: “His desire to grow and evolve his discipline in an innovative and interesting manner aligns completely with the stated goals and requirements of the grant.”

DIA sought to use the grant exactly as intended. The program overview from the ASC website reads, “The Creative Renewal Fellowship is intended to provide a structured period of rest and creative exploration for vocational artists. The fellowship funds can be used for research, instruction, conferences, apprenticeships, travel or other experiences that help the recipient explore their creative journey.”

Garnica said, “The purpose of this fellowship is to provide space for research, an apprenticeship, skill-building in a craft you really haven’t developed. Many Fellows want to explore a completely new genre or medium and then weave what they’ve learned into their regular discipline.”

DIA was among them. He found the Cadence Video Poetry Festival, which offered workshops, panels and tutorials on how to construct video poems. That’s the direction he wants to go next.

From Rhinebeck to Chile

DIA hoped to accomplish three primary things with his fellowship: Self-care, time to explore new poetic forms and an opportunity to meet and network with poets he admired. He curated his own course of study that the grant allowed him to pursue.

• A collective of Black poets he’s been following – Cave Canem Poets – hosted an event at the New School in New York – a lecture and a reading by the poet Jay Wright, past winner of Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships. “I picked his mind about his journey as a poet, what he’s doing now, how he’s keeping it fresh,” DIA said. “It was an amazing experience.”
• Self-care was the reason for DIA’s visit to the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York for a workshop called “Reclaiming your Authentic Self” led by theologian and poet Thema Bryant, Ph.D. “She raised important questions that really resonated with me,” DIA said. “In my writing, I’m examining topics like tenderness, compassion, self-care, self-love, community,” he said. “What I learned from Dr. Bryant and my fellow participants will have a direct impact on my work.”
• The grant also covered a series of virtual workshops. In one, Tracie Morris discussed “how you can poetically write about sensitive topics in a way that honors your experience and honors other individuals involved,” DIA said.
• He took online workshops from a poetry organization called The Watering Hole and “learned from poets who are doing personal and vulnerable work.” And the grant allowed him to join both the Academy of American Poets and Charlotte Center for Literary Arts – or Charlotte Lit, for short. He’s taken workshops there – one called Duplex that was led by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Jericho Brown – and plans to register for more. 
• Lastly, he traveled to Santiago, Chile to work one-on-one with Rigoberto Gonzalez, a much-lauded poet, professor, editor and book critic. “I’ve had my work critiqued before,” DIA said. “But I’d never had someone go through a body of work and show me how poems could be in dialogue with each other, how to structure a book in a logical sequence, how to create a voice between poems.” He also studied Pablo Neruda, the great Chilean poet and diplomat, and visited some of his regular haunts.

‘I’ve grown bolder’
DIA loved being a pastor and an educator, but said, “Neither role fed my creative passion. So, I’m moving into a single career as a poet and performance artist. At some point, if it’s the will of the universe, I’ll go back into teaching and the intersection of theology and poetry. But in this season of life, I want to understand myself and my voice as a creative.”

He’s grown in his understanding. But he’s gained even more than he set out to. One outcome of his fellowship is something DIA wasn’t counting on.

“I’ve grown bolder in approaching individuals across the country I admire,” he said. “I’ll contact them to ask if we can schedule a call or Zoom. I want to find out: What’s feeding your work right now? What’s informing your work? How do you keep it fresh?”

And he learned to treasure down time. When he was “tri-vocational,” there was rarely time for reflection. Now, he said, “I feel recharged – physically, emotionally and spiritually – and not so stretched or consumed. For many of us creatives, we complete projects and check the box and then we’re off to the next project.” DIA’s creative renewal allowed him time to reflect.

“I’ve been in a holding pattern of an ‘emerging artist’ for quite some time,” he added. “But I feel something else percolating. I feel something opening up. I leave this experience really thankful and feeling that something great is coming.”

 Learn more about de’Angelo DIA and his art at dia1518.com.