MoAD and the San Francisco Public Library are partnering on December 30th to present a virtual celebration for the 5th day of Kwanzaa, Nia (purpose). The event will feature poetry readings by Ayodele Nzinga, Stewart Shaw, and Karla Brundage. This event is part of a week-long series organized by The Village Project. From December 26th-January 1st, each day will feature unique programming, musical performances, and nightly libations in celebration of the seven principles of Kwanzaa.Stewart Shaw:S. Shaw is a librarian, poet, writer, and author of the chapbook The House of Men. His poems have been published in African American Review, Imagoes: a Queer Anthology, Split This Rock- poems of resistance, Serendipity and others, as well as having short stories in Mighty Real: An Anthology of African American Same Gender Loving Writing and African Voices. He is a Pushcart nominated poet and a Cave Canem Poetry Fellow.Ayodele Nzinga, MFA, PhD:Ayodele Nzinga is the founding producing director of the Lower Bottom Playaz. She is the founding Director of the Black Arts Movement Business District Community Development Corporation, Oakland, (BAMBD CDC).Nzinga holds an MFA in Writing and Consciousness, and a Ph.D. in Transformative Learning. Work for the page includes SorrowLand Oracle, and The Horse Eaters published by Nomadic Press, A Narrative Inquiry into Performance Pedagogy, work in Vision Magazine, two volumes of the Journal of Pan African Studies, 14 Hills Journal, Magnolia Journal, and in the anthologies, Environmental Terrorist, and Say it Loud. Museum and Library at Oakland, CA.Nzinga is a Cal-Shakes Artist Investigator Alumni, a Helen Crocker Russell Arts Leadership Fellow, and a member of the Alameda County Women’s Hal of Fame. She is recognized by the August Wilson House as the only director in the world to direct the complete August Wilson Century Cycle in chronological order.Karla Brundage:Karla Brundage is a Bay Area based poet, activist, and educator. Born in Berkeley, California in the summer of love, Karla spent most of her childhood in Hawaii where she developed a deep love of nature. She is the founder of West Oakland to West Africa Poetry Exchange (WO2WA) and is a board member of the Before Columbus Foundation. Her poetry, short stories and essays have been widely anthologized and can be found in Hip Mama, Literary Kitchen, Lotus Press, Bamboo Ridge Press, Vibe and Konch Literary Magazine. She holds an MA in Education from San Francisco State University and an MFA from Mills College. Her most recent project is co-editing a collection called Colossus:Home which features poets from the Bay Area in solidarity with Moms4housing and advocating for housing justice. Her work can be found at http://westoaklandtowestafrica.com/ as well as on https://www.karlabrundage.com/