Ursula Rucker graces our stage Friday, March 6th for a special *filmed* edition of The Late(ish) Poetry Show! Early bird tickets are available at a discount for a limited time only in our bio. See you there! 🎤🐦
🎟️ Tickets available now via 🔗 in bio! 🎟️
Join us for this celebration of the 112th year of Sun Ra’s arrival on our planet. John Pettit will be selecting Sun Ra and Sun Ra affiliated music (Other Arkestra members, Sun Ra influences, covers, etc.), and poet Ursula Rucker will be doing a reading. Silent, archival footage of Sun Ra and the Arkestra will be projected on loop throughout the evening as well.
This year’s Wordsmith: A Def Poetry Reunion at Grounds For Sculpture will honor Ursula Rucker. As a poet, recording artist, activist, teacher and revolutionary, Rucker is a certified veteran of the global music and poetry scene. Her solo albums are brimming with power and wide-ranging musical diversity, and she can be heard on dance floors across the world as the voice of many House and Dance music classics.
In 2018, she was the recipient of the prestigious fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts & Change. She also had the distinct honor of being selected for the Philadelphia Cultural Treasures Fellowship in 2022, recognizing her commitment to the advancement of art and her essential legacy to the cultural fabric of Philadelphia.
A pre-event conversation with Rucker and Lamar “Black Ice” Manson, hosted by Keia Carter Simmons, will be held from 6:30 – 7:30PM. The talk will be on the spoken word movement before and after the advent of Def Poetry.
Wordsmith: A Def Poetry Reunion Honoring Ursula Rucker will be held on Friday, June 12 from 7-10PM. Tickets on sale now at the link in bio!
#groundsforsculpture #defpoetryreunion #defpoetryjam #wordsmith #ursularucker
We're happy to share a video of the world premiere of @david.dzubinski 's Two Views of a Prayer, the first of nearly 50 new works created for PRISM Quartet's Unlocking Your Inner Composer residency at the @freelibrary@freelibrarymusic . PRISM presented many of the works from Unlocking in an encore performance at NYC's legendary @thejazzgallery . Look for more Unlocking and other Quartet videos this summer by subscribing to PRISM's YouTube channel!
For the residency, PRISM was joined by long-time collaborators @violinwoman_africandreams , @dr.tyshawnsorey_official , and @urucker as co-teaching artists in 12 workshops in October and November 2025. Special thanks to @robertyoungsax (sop. sax) and @2sircheck (vl) for filling in for @timothymcallistersax and Diane, respectively, for the performances.
David Dzubinski describes Two Views of a Prayer: "In the beginning of May of this year (2025), I spent 5 days in the Cardiac ICU at Einstein Hospital. Without the care of the people that encouraged me to be there and the dedicated doctors and staff at Einstein doing what they do caring for people on a daily basis so magnificently, it is a very real possibility that I would not be here today to be a part of this incredible workshop. This piece is inspired by and dedicated to those people; Kayle Brecher, Dr. Suzie Brown Sax, Dr. Nazanin Moghbeli, Dr. Behnam Bozorgnia, Dr. Ola Khraisha. Many thanks to Matthew Levy, Taimur Sullivan and the PRISM Quartet team as well Diane Monroe, Tyshawn Sorey, and Ursula Rucker and the fabulous folks at the Philadelphia Library who did so much to make this workshop a reality. It has been enlightening and a complete joy be a part of this workshop.”
About Unlocking Your Inner Composer: PRISM's ongoing Unlocking project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for talented emerging composers to create original music for a stellar lineup of musicians. Unlocking is rooted in community, cross-cultural exchange, dialogue, and deep listening. Participants explore a vast range of musical traditions and develop their artistic voices over multiple sessions, workshopping their musical ideas before the final performances.
@connselmerinc@henriselmerparis
Ursula Rucker / Tim Motzer at the Interference Series at Beaver Street Theater in Flagstaff AZ 4/11/2026
Such a great night & lovely audience!! It was again really special being back in Flagstaff!!
photos by Mark Neumann @neumann1219
is LOVE everywhere?
it has to be here, right?
in this great, grand, cavernous expanse.
it has to…it must…be here, right?
cause there’s no LOVE like my mother’s.
and I’ve been looking for that kind of LOVE.
giving, creating, making, writing, saying…that kind of LOVE.
and still…
yet still…
but still…
it seems in glimpses, short wisps of moments and time…only.
not long…stretching…continuous…continuing…moments…and times.
is LOVE in the cloud covers and shapes…in the blue…in that rock…in the wings of the birds gliding over?
is LOVE…everywhere?
for now…I’ll keep searching, giving, thanking, making, saying…
until it is.
oneLOVE.
-ursula rucker-
One of my fav tracks of 'Alchemist' is 'Now, Pause...' ft. the amazing @urucker .
I've listened a lot to her music in the past and I feel blessed that she is on the album.
I will post a 'making of' video tomorrow
✨ Saturday, April 11th, 2026 | Flagstaff, AZ | Beaver St. Theatre
🎟️#linkinbio
Legendary Philly Poet Ursula Rucker creates powerful stories with longtime collaborator and world renown guitarist Tim Motzer.
“From the moment that Ursula Rucker and Tim Motzer first unified their singular magical words-and-music efforts on the historic stages of Philly’s Tower Theater, opening for the legendarily conscious Nina Simone, all bets have been thrown off the table. Whether appearing within the intimate confines of a duet setting or something broader (but no less intrinsic and interpersonal), the divine cacophonous wordsmith and the clamorous textural guitarist have created tactile, co-joined waves of nuance and noise, of beauty, sex, strife and solace. Alone they are epic. Together, Rucker and Motzer are crucial, an emotional, intergalactic soulful soundscape too rare and too righteous to miss.”
me and this @anthonycarlosmolden piece…look at and check each other…everyday…all throughout the day…
on a low-energy type day…this piece helps me get up…stay up ☀️✨🌟
this painting is magic. most of his paintings are though. magic, i mean. 🪄
(made/created LIVE…several yrs ago…in a beloved space…called The Kensington Storefront ♥️)
Excited to be heading to Jamaica, Queens TODAY & Brooklyn TOMORROW for these Two Amazing Women’s Herstory Event Jawns!!! COME THRU! 🚆✌🏽♥️💫
Jamaica Performing Arts Center
“A voice of truth and resistance.”
Fanm Vanya is at the heart of this evening’s celebration. Featuring writer and performer Ursula Rucker(@urucker ), poet, recording artist, songwriter, activist, and revolutionary Ma’at Mama. A veteran of the global music and poetry scene, Rucker’s voice is one of the world’s great living instruments.
From early performances in Philadelphia to collaborations with The Roots, 4Hero, Jazzanova, and Louie Vega, Rucker has spent nearly three decades shaping music and poetry worldwide. Her work includes solo albums such as Supa Sista (2001) and Ma’at Mama (2006), live memoir My Father’s Daughter, and two murals in Philadelphia (You Go Girl, 2013; We Still Here, 2021).
A force on stage, in print, and on record, Rucker embodies the spirit of fanm vanyan.
Curated by Inaugural 651 ARTS Curatorial Fellow Ariella Villefranche (@ariellaflowers )! ✨
📍 651 ARTS | 10 Lafayette Ave, FL 4
📅 March 29
🎟 $25 tickets | Link in bio
