Shontina Vernon

Shontina Vernon is a dynamic, multidisciplinary artist whose work is grassroots, visionary, and global in scope. An accomplished filmmaker, theater artist, musician, creative facilitator, and educator, her work champions the necessity of arts and culture to catalyze social change. Shontina draws from her autobiographical experiences and today’s landscape of political urgency and inequity to create a provocative body of work that has been recognized nationally and internationally for both its artistic merit and risk taking. Shontina weaves disciplines, mediums, and communities to center social justice work with vibrancy and rigor. Her work has been particularly impactful in raising awareness around gender/sexuality and juvenile justice policy.

A believer in the transformative power of art and story, Shontina facilitates workshops using creative writing, theatre, music, and movement to aid marginalized communities in connecting with a sense of voice and agency. She is a 2016-19 Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellow, a prestigious two-year grant program funding artistic projects addressing racial justice through the lens of mass incarceration.