About Tai Allen
Tai Allen is a polymath. A creative and strategist committed to building better communities and supporting all people. He is a parent, son and sibling. And, he is a friend and play-cousin, who loves his found families.
Tai will choose a work title that works for that moment but it always starts with “poet.” This poet is a performer, jazz/soul vocalist, musician, producer and designer. He has been published in magazines like Bomb, ESPN, YRB and African Voices. The poetry and short stories have found space in About Place Journal; Brilliant Place Anthology for Amiri Baraka,from Third World Press; OPEN: an erotic journal, edited by Fayemi Shakur and HYCIDE; Center for Black Literature’s Killen’s Review; and, Brooklyn Poets.
Success as an artist has led to features on cultural sites. Okayplayer, BKReader, Ebony, Soultracks, and Grown Folks Music have dedicated pixels. Touring has taken him to domestic and international venues. He has performed (or headlined) at the Apollo Theater’s Music Café, National Black Writers Conference (Brooklyn), Restoration Rocks (Brooklyn), National Jazz Museum (Harlem), First Saturday at Brooklyn Museum, American Jazz Museum (KC), Art of Cool Festival (Durham), The Nuyorican Poets Café (NYC), CrimeJazz (Rotterdam), Blue Note (NYC), AfroLatino Fest NYC, Charles Wright Museum (Detroit), Bambu (Houston), Atrium at Lincoln Center, BAMcafe, UConn at Storrs, Miami Art Basel and The Nash (Phoenix).
As a curator, he continues building programs and projects that celebrate or provide for the communities he loves. Tai Allen has coordinated and produced concerts, exhibits, conferences, and festivals. Every programming opportunity becomes a positive moment for vulnerable neighborhoods. Tai is a thinker and advisor. A love of the Black and Brown communities that give him legacy and life. He has led strategy for Chi Osse while working in the “kitchen cabinet” for Council Member Sandy Nurse. The political wonk has contributed to officials and community organizations in NYC, Springfield (MA), Jackson (MS), Durham (NC) and Elmont (LI).
Community progress is parallel and vital to his cultural executions. Building and providing and supporting neighborhoods with responsible and responsive actions. From communications to policy to operations to better practices to marching to direct services.