Art CV
Ashley Cornelius, MA, LPCC
Spoken Word Artist I Workshop Facilitator I Host I Community Organizer
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Artist Statement
I am a nationally recognized spoken word poet. My poetry focuses on my intersectionality as a black woman, social injustice, and self-love. I am healing myself and my community with my artistic expression. My work is unapologetic and aims to disrupt and cause people to get uncomfortable and in the process, grow. I am a trained workshop facilitator, host, and event organizer as well as a therapist. I am known for my workshops on poetry, self-care, body neutrality, racial injustice, anti-blackness, mental health stigma, and ancestral healing. As a therapist, I believe mental health is paramount and poetry and performance are a way to support mindfulness and coping skills. I worked with youth across my career in multiple roles as a teacher, mentor, therapist, coach, and program director for a youth arts nonprofit. I enjoy building community through poetry across the lifespan. I am dedicated to supporting healing, growth, and radical self-acceptance through poetry.
Awards
Pikes Peak Poet Laureate ( 2021)
Bee an Arts Champion Award ( 2021)
Mayor’s Young Leaders Awards ( Finalist) (2021)
Colorado Springs Business Journal Rising Stars ( 2021)
Colorado Springs Independent Best Artists: Gold Winner (2019)
Pikes Peak Art Council Award: Best Poetry Event (2018)
Women of the World Colorado Springs Representative (2018)
Art Grants
Pikes Peak Art Council Micro Grant ( 2021)
Manitou Arts Culture Heritage Grant for “Art in Action” (2021)
Manitou Arts Culture Heritage Grant for “Children of Gaia” (2021)
Fine Arts Center 3x3 Project “Behind the Cape” (2021)
Youth Experience & Schools
Inside Out Youth Services ( 2021)
Hercules Middle School: Mindfulness Fridays ( 2021)
Co-Coach of National Hear Hear Youth Team (2019)
African American Youth Leadership Conference (2018, 2019)
Co-Coach of National Hear Hear Youth Team (2018)
Peace Camp ( 2018)
Discovery Canyon Workshop ( 2018)
Woodland Park High School ( 2017)
Poetry Camp Counselor ( 2016)
Published Work
“Salt” in the book “Drowning in Salt Water” By Kevin Mitchell (2019)
“For Ruth” in the book “The Invisible People of Colorado springs” By John Holley reprint by PPLD (2021)
Speak Out: Poetry As Healing Chapbook (2019)
Features
Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC Gala ( 2021)
Women of Influence ( 2021)
Arts Vision 2030 Launch (2021)
Authentic You Symposium ( 2021)
All Pikes Peak Read ( 2021)
Nami Walks ( 2021)
Kreuser Galler ( 2021)
Friendship Day, Manitou Springs ( 2021)
Elevated by Art (2021)
We Imagine Live ( Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking) (2021)
Liberation through Farming ( 2021)
Spirits of the Soil ( 2021)
Creative Strategies for Change (2021)
Comocimiento Garden: Power Hour (2021)
CC Mobile Arts Opening (2021)
Kreuser Gallery “Gratitude” (2021)
Community Foundation Board Meeting ( 2021)
Teach for America (2021)
Colorado Springs Rotary Club (2020)
March on Washington Sister Demonstration (2020)
Youth March ( 2020)
We Project (2020)
96.1 The Beat Townhall meeting (2020)
For the Love of Black Women (2020)
RMPBS (2020)
Black Lives Create (2020)
African American Youth Leadership Conference (2019, 2020)
OneBodyENT Black History Program (2019, 2020)
Peak Radar Live (2019, 2020)
Ruth Holley Library Rededication & Open Mic (2019)
Fannie May Duncan Statue Opening (2019)
When We Knew Everything with Springs Ensemble (2019)
Tedx Colorado Springs (2019)
Soul Session with Emily Strange (2019)
American Prom by Idris Goodwin (2019)
Colorado Springs Sanctuary City Event (2019)
Imagination Celebration Poetry Portal ( 2019)
Live Life Beyond with Bailey Hinton, Tony Exum Jr, & John Register (2019)
Mercury Cafe (2019)
Pikes Peak Community College Downtown Gallery Opening (2019)
Colorado Springs Women’s March (2018, 2019)
Women of Influence Award Ceremony (2018)
Black Art Matters Gallery (2018)
Colorado College Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault awarness (2018)
At the InkWell Reading (2017, 2018)
NAACP (2017)
Keep Colorado Springs Queer (2016)
Colorado Black Voices Matter (2016)
Community Organizing
Poetry719 Events ( 2018-2021)
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Colorado Black Voices Matter Open Mic
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Latinx Voices Matter Open Mic
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Mental Health Open Mic
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Listen to Black Women Open Mic
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Listen to Women of Color Open Mic
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Listen to People of Color Open Mic
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Nerd Open Mic
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Erotic Open Mic
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Youth Open Mic
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Self-Love workshop & open Mic
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Black Art Matters Gallery
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Art Markets
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Letters to My Exs Open Mic
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Poetry & Hiking
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Poetry & Movement Showcase
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Comedy & Poetry Open Mic
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Men of Color Panel on Toxic Masculinity
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Ruth HOlley Library Rededication
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Poetry719 Festival ( 2018-2021)
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For the Love of Black Women Showcase
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Denim Day Open Mic
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Disability Awareness Open Mic
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Spirituality & Poetry Open Mic
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Grief and Loss Open MIc
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“Let’s Talk About Death” Open Mic
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Queer BIPOC Open Mic
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Art in Action Open Mic & Gallery
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Women’s Open Mic
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Fight the Power Open Mic
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Black Men Appreciation Open Mic
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Nonbinary Open Mic & Showcase
Panels
World Affairs Council ( 2021)
Body Mind Soul Mental Health panel (2021)
Saving your Righteous MInd Mental Health Panel (2020)
A Place For Us, A Black Led Community Conversation (2020)
The Art of Social Justice Arts Month Community Conversations (2020)
Leadership Pikes Peak Arts Day ( 2019, 2020)
Conferences
Junior League of Fort Collins Women’s Conference (2021)
Black Health and Healing Summit: Queens Library (2021)
Colorado Nonprofit Association Conference (2020)
Workplace Racial Equity Symposium: Denver Public Library (2020)
Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence ( 2018, 2019, 2020)
African American Youth Leadership Conference (2018, 2019)
Peace Camp ( 2018)
EmpowerME at Uccs ( 2017)
Workshops
Voces Unidas for Justice Creativity as Self-Care for Survivors (2021)
Pikes Peak Community College Sexual Assault Awarness month (2021)
Pikes Peak Community College ‘Finding your anti-racist self” (2021)
BIPOC Collective Care Circle (Denver Public Library) (2021)
Workplace Racial Equity Symposium: Denver Public Library (2021)
Colorado Nonprofit Association Conference Creativity as Self-care (2021)
Concrete Couch-Gaia Project (2020-2021)
Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence Self-care Retreat (2020)
Hercules Middle School-Mindfulness Fridays (2020)
Pikes Peak Community College Black History Month (2019)
Speak Out: Poetry as Healing Workshop (Cottonwood Center of the Arts) (2019)
Break the Silence Against Domestic Violence Sisterhood Retreat (2018, 2019)
Art Affiliations
Poetry719 Co-Director (2017-Present)
Children of Gaia Poetry Coordinator ( 2020, 2021)
Artist Vision 2030 Steering Committee ( 2020, 2021)
Hear Hear Board of Directors (2018)
Articles & Media
Colorado Springs Independent
Southeast Express
The Springs Echo
Education
MASTER OF ARTS, INTERNATIONAL DISASTER PSYCHOLOGY
University of Denver May 2018
BACHELOR OF ARTS, PSYCHOLOGY & COMMUNICATIONS
University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) May 2013
*Received High Distinction in Communications and graduated Summa Cum Laude