Ekphest: A Festival of Art + Word took place October 2014 and April 2015 during National Poetry month. The festival invited Chicago poets to respond to works of art in the collections of eight Chicago museums and institutions and was co-curated by myself and Chicago visual artist and poet Krista Franklin.

Co-curated with Krista Franklin and sponsored in part by the Propeller Fund, partnering museums and institutions included: the Adler Planetarium, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, DuSable Museum of African American History, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), and the Smart Museum of Art.

A diverse group of contributing poets with various approaches to poetry and performance were invited to participate: Joel Craig, Christina Correa, RJ El, Eric Elshtain, Krista Franklin, Duriel E. Harris, RJ El, Sharrieff Muhammed, Keith Wilson, Jamila Woods and avery r. young.