Radical Healing Artist and Organizer, Nicole M Smith, has experience and  expertise in using artistic methods to address trauma, difficult experiences and  injustice, to unravel dynamics of disempowerment, oppression, and systemic  methods of control.  

Nicole has crafted her aesthetic by fusing Theatre of the Oppressed, Art of  Hosting, Mindfulness, Supportive Listening, and the Amplification of Muted  Voice(s). She does this through lecture, performance, teachings, and  workshop/residency design and partnership.  

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Her work has been experienced at: the International Federation of Settlement  Houses in Berlin, GER; at the Youth Services of America Conference in  Houston, TX; at the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America Conference in  New Orleans, LA, and more. She has spoken at: Augsburg College,  Macalester College, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and more; held  residency at: Roosevelt High School, Southside Family Charter School,  University Settlement in New York City, and more; she is a Partnered Artist with  Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools (K-12), is a Graduate of the Creative  Community Leadership Institute and HOPE Community’s SPEAC Program,  recognized by Intermedia Arts’ as a Changemaking Artist, and more.  

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She has held positions with: Penumbra Theatre (Administrative Intern), YWCA -  St. Paul (Youth Specialist) Children’s Theatre Company (Teen Programs  Coordinator), Pillsbury House + Theatre (Artistic Associate/Youth Specialist)  and Intermedia Arts (Community Engagement Coordinator).  

In Fall 2016, she was honored to have been invited to the White House (under  Obama’s Administration) for her work in the Bisexual/Queer Community.  

Having spent four years as a member of Central Touring Theatre’s Black Box 

My experience as a Hmong American has deeply influenced my approach to art. I came of age in the nineties, a time when most text about the Hmong were written by non-Hmong people. This was simply because the Hmong were an orally-based culture and literacy was still new. I grew up under the mentorship of Mai Neng Moua who has been hailed by The New York Times as “midwife of the literary arts movement.” She created spaces for Hmong people to write their own stories. Therefore, I never take it for granted that I have the capacity to write in my own voice.

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For a time, it was trendy for artists to say they wanted to be “a voice for the voiceless”. I hate this idea because it assumes that someone like who have all the trappings of marginalization—woman, Person of Color, former refugee who grew up in a low-income background—should have my voice mediated by someone else. Instead, this has transformed the way I do work: I assume that everyone has capacity to create art, if only give the chance, the platform, the tools, and the guidance.