Black, Queer, Create(her), businesswoman and conduit for culture and community, Crystal C. Mercer is a celebrated fiber artist, activist, published author, playwright, and poet. She utilizes theatre, poetry, and textiles to communicate ancestral messages and tell social justice narratives through merchandising artifacts of the culture and storytelling with an emphasis of uplifting voices of color and making marginalized populations visible. As the Found(her) of A BLACK SPACE , Mercer aims to engage community by honoring the culture. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts and Dance from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Master’s Degree from the Clinton School of Public Service. Her last name, Mercer, means “a merchant in textiles”. Find out more about her work at www.crystalcmercer.com and follow her on social media @ccmercertoo. She knows, shows, and cares about what’s going on in the hood… In every thread of her being, she is weaving a tapestry of her ancestors, draped in Afro-futurism.