Outfest Fusion Opening Night Poetry Showcase

Yosimar Reyes is a nationally-acclaimed Poet and Public Speaker. Born in Guerrero, Mexico, and raised in Eastside San Jose, Reyes explores the themes of migration and sexuality in his work. The Advocate named Reyes one of “13 LGBT Latinos Changing the World” and Remezcla included Reyes on their list of “10 Up And Coming Latinx Poets You Need To Know.

Tyris Winter an aspiring legend, and self proclaimed 70s guru. With a passion for the arts, his love lies in multiple outlets, from painting, dancing, fashion, to poetry. Tyris’ poetic presence has been depicted in the Los Angeles Times, Deadline, tell.tv, Youth To The People and even the Joshua Tree local newspaper. Tyris has performed all across the U.S. from Sundance film festival to the stages at Brave New Voices. He is the winner of multiple slam titles and his work displays all aspects of himself in his writing as well as performances. Winter’s writing embodies self reflection, family, culture, sexuality, mental health, the economy and more. Catch Tyris starring in the film Summertime directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada, or on instagram @winterissues posting about his children/pets/stuffed animals named Giraffeca and Piggy Smalls.

Bella BAHHS (Black Ancestors Here Healing Society) is a Chicago-based raptivist and revolutionary, nationally known for making sedition irresistible through her art, activism and advocacy.

Born and raised on Chicago’s West Side, BAHHS was thrust into the national spotlight in 2015 when a video of her heartfelt performance at a local march for justice for Laquan McDonald, a teenager killed by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, went viral.

In 2016, BAHHS co-organized the #LetUsBreathe Collective’s Freedom Square Occupation – a 45-day occupation of a Chicago “secret” police precinct, Homan Square, notorious for kidnapping, torturing and forcing confessions from Black men. Freedom Square became a defacto civic leadership art camp for the North Lawndale community, where BAHHS co-directed daily programming for youth. The summertime occupation was covered by national media outlets, urging the country to critically examine the world we exist in and to radically re/imagine the world we want to create.

Acknowledged for the visionary leadership and energy she brings to the fight for a more just and humane nation, BAHHS joined the Open Society Foundation as a 2017 Soros Justice Fellow. She organized a cohort of arts-activists, the Sister Survivor Network (SSN), to produce accessible events and opportunities to uplift women and girls who survive carceral trauma, while mobilizing support to drastically reduce America’s prisons population.

BAHHS is a founding member of The Decarceration Collective (TDC) and since 2016 has worked closely with Lead Criminal Defense Attorney MiAngel Cody, developing successful freedom campaigns for federal prisoners sentenced to die behind bars for nonviolent drug offenses. TDC recently garnered national attention when Kim Kardashian donated to support the nonprofit’s efforts to disrupt injustice through litigation.

BAHHS is also a founding member and co-chair of the statewide Women’s Justice “Redefining the Narrative” Task Force, a historic convening of more than 250 women leaders from across Illinois united to strategically reduce harm to women and their children before, during and after incarceration while working to drastically cut the women’s prison population by 50% or more over the next seven years.

Jade Phoenix Martinez (she/her) is a queer, trans, femme, first gen Filipinx, Parent, LA-based performance artist + poet, speaker, activist, and educator.

Jade is a fierce story and truth teller, a vulnerable yet dynamic performance poet and actress, an informative and award winning cultural producer of film and media, an activist and mother that uses her platform and art to craft nuanced dialogue and authentic expressions of women/femme and gender non conforming people of color in the arts, academia, and film.

Jade’s poetry has been featured with the Lambda Literary Press, and has been the featured poet at the Asian American Writers Workshop in NYC. She has also been the keynote speaker for multiple conferences across the country at schools such as UC Berkeley and Harvard. Jade is also a budding and accomplished film producer and actress with multiple films winning awards at the Outfest Film Festival in LA.