Storytelling Open Mic featuring Miki Conn

About this event

Miki Conn is an artist, storyteller, poet, author and community organizer. Born in Brooklyn, NY, her African and Native American roots inspired her interest in indigenous arts and multiculturalism.  She is a priest of Oshun and follows the traditional African Yoruba belief system. 

Miki is the former executive director of the Hamilton Hill Arts Center, a multi-arts center located in the heart of the inner-city in Schenectady.  Although retired, she teaches art and tells stories to children and adults and offers workshops and classes in team building, creativity, writing and African spirituality.  She organizes Schenectady’s annual Juneteenth Celebration and the annual Kwanzaa Celebration for the Capital District.

Miki’s essays are published in the anthology Sacred Waters. She also wrote Out of My Mind, A Quirky Look at Life Through Poetry (November, 2019) and the following children’s picture books: The Story of a House (July 2020), Oshun’s Pumpkins (November 2021), and Drumming for Ogun (May 2023). Miki edited and re-published Integrating Delmar 1957, the Story of a Friendship, co-authored by her mother, Margaret Cunningham and family friend, Arlen Clinard in April 2021.  

Miki shares her personal stories and African myths and legends through storytelling and painting as well as her other creative outlets. Her involvement in the Yoruba religion has been a source of inspiration for a number of her paintings and workshops.  She has been the subject of several videos about her experiences in the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties and has been invited to make presentations about her experiences.