Bio
Pacia Elaine is a graduate of the St. Louis-based Community Arts Training Institute, an Urban Bush Women SLI alumnus, a 2020 New Leaders Council-St. Louis fellow, and a founding member of the youth-based art camp Cherokee Street Reach. Pacia is also a Missouri Regional Coordinator for the NEA-sponsored Poetry Out Loud youth recitation competition.
She has served as a Liaison for the Great Rivers Greenway Artists of Color Council, and as a consulting artist and national workshop facilitator with Americans for the Arts. An artist deeply invested in the neighborhood in which she lives, Pacia Elaine has played key roles in the development of the Gravois-Jefferson Historic Neighborhoods Plan, the Build-It-With-Kaboom Gravois Park playground construction, and expansive work in the Cherokee Street Business district and the neighborhoods that surround it, such as the activation and community care of Cherokee Street’s Love Bank Park.
Additionally, Pacia has served as assistant to inaugural St. Louis Poet Laureate Dr. Michael Castro, and a Springboard to Learning co-founding professional development facilitator the Teaching Artist Institute. Pacia has trained with Lincoln Center Education’s Eric Booth and Jane Taylor, as well as veteran cultural planner Margie Reese. Pacia Elaine is a member of the Teaching Artists’ Guild.
Pacia Elaine serves on the boards of Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts, The St. Louis Poetry Center, and St. Louis Art Place, an artist housing initiative.
Artistically, she has performed along side President Obama Inauguration Poet Richard Blanco at the Hope Global Forum and opened the 2018 International Spa Association’s conference, in addition to being featured in the planning, performance, facilitation, and hosting of numerous events and performance projects. Pacia Elaine’s written work has been appeared in Drumvoices Revue, All the Art, Crossing the Divide, ArtsLink, The Quarterly, and others.In 2016, Pacia released her first spoken-word poetry album, “Circa. Ep.”
Recently, Pacia Elaine was named 2020-2021 Community Impact Artist by the St. Louis Visionary Awards and was finalist for the 2021 Launchcode “Dreamer” Award.