Joni Renee Whitworth is a poet and community organizer from rural Oregon. They have performed at The Moth, the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, and the Museum of Contemporary Art alongside Marina Abramovic. They teach poetry at the MacLaren Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, in partnership with the Morpheus Youth Project.
Whitworth served as the inaugural Artist in Residence at Portland Parks and Recreation, Poet in Residence for Oregon State University's Trillium Project, and 2020 Queer Hero for the Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. Their work is sponsored by Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, the Oregon Cultural Trust, the City of Beaverton, the Bodecker Foundation, the Collins Foundation, Literary Arts, All Classical Portland radio, the Oregon Community Foundation, the Jeremy Wilson Foundation, and the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition.
Their writing explores themes of nature, future, family, and the neurodivergent body, and has appeared in Lambda Literary, Tin House, Oregon Humanities, Proximity Magazine, Seventeen Magazine, Eclectica, Pivot, SWWIM, Smeuse, Superstition Review, xoJane, Inverted Syntax, Unearthed Literary Journal, Sinister Wisdom, Dime Show Review, and The Write Launch.
Whitworth served as the inaugural Artist in Residence at Portland Parks and Recreation, Poet in Residence for Oregon State University's Trillium Project, and 2020 Queer Hero for the Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest. Their work is sponsored by Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, the Oregon Cultural Trust, the City of Beaverton, the Bodecker Foundation, the Collins Foundation, Literary Arts, All Classical Portland radio, the Oregon Community Foundation, the Jeremy Wilson Foundation, and the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition.
Their writing explores themes of nature, future, family, and the neurodivergent body, and has appeared in Lambda Literary, Tin House, Oregon Humanities, Proximity Magazine, Seventeen Magazine, Eclectica, Pivot, SWWIM, Smeuse, Superstition Review, xoJane, Inverted Syntax, Unearthed Literary Journal, Sinister Wisdom, Dime Show Review, and The Write Launch.
SELECTED PROJECTS
- 2019, Featured playwright at Risk/Reward Festival, published in Tin House
- 2018, Released Top Ten Memories of the Green Chair, a visual elegy
- 2017, Published Your Full Real Name, a poetry chapbook
- 2016, Hosted Moon Prism Power Sailor Moon Art Show at The Galallery
- 2015, Produced "Queering the Wedding Industry", an LGBTQ wedding show
- 2014, Won The Moth Story Slam at the Secret Society in Portland, Oregon
- 2013, Published an op-ed for xoJane (now known as HelloGiggles)
- 2012, Choreographed Chautauqua with Stacy Dawson Stearns at the Segerstrom Performing Arts Center
- 2011, Performed a two-day durational performance art piece with Marina Abramovic at the Museum of Contemporary Art Annual Gala
- 2011, Released In the Valley of Secrets, an EP of original folk music. The music can be heard for free here.
- 2010, Founded a coalition of artists to support marginalized artists living and working in Santa Ana, California. Managed this group for two years under the City of Santa Ana Planning Office and Downtown, Inc.
- 2010, One of Joni's original art works, a painted piano commissioned by the Pacific Symphony of Orange County , was selected for a two-year installation and display in the Santora Building of the Artists' Village in Santa Ana, California.
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