EVENT LINK: https://springboardforthearts.org/events/ask-me-anything-navigating-big-career-opportunities-as-an-artist/
FEE: Free
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“Ask Me Anything” events are panel discussions on a variety of topics with Springboard’s Artist Career Consultants (ACCs) or staff and guest artists/presenters. These events are held virtually, on Zoom.
Ask Me Anything: Navigating Big Career Opportunities as an Artist
Date/Time: Thursday, August 28, 2025, 6:00 – 7:30 pm Central Time
What happens when you’re presented with a major, career-defining opportunity? For many artists, these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities can be both intimidating and transformative. Join poet and hip hop artist Desdamona and multidisciplinary artist and community organizer Moira “Miri” Villiard as they share personal experiences and practical strategies for approaching major artistic opportunities. This panel explores the emotional, logistical, and ethical considerations artists face when navigating pivotal career moments.
This conversation will be moderated by Anitra Budd, Artist Career Consultant and Workshop Instructor at Springboard for the Arts.
Speaker: Desdamona (she/her)
Bio: Desdamona is an international, award-winning poet and hip hop artist known for her dynamic performances, powerful writing, and deep commitment to community. She has toured across the U.S. and abroad, leading workshops and performances in more than 300 schools and prisons. A co-founder of B-Girl Be—the groundbreaking celebration of women in Hip Hop held in Minneapolis from 2005–2011 Desdamona has long worked to amplify underrepresented voices in the culture.
Her artistry has reached global audiences through eight French music releases and collaborations with international Grammy winners Sly & Robbie, including a tour of France. In 2014, she was featured as a rapping lunch lady in Kmart’s national “Back to School” campaign. She also created commissioned work for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and wrote the theme song for the WNBA’s Detroit Shock.
Her 2016 release No Man’s Land showcased an all-women cast of singers, poets, and emcees from the Twin Cities. In 2024, she received a full scholarship to Pendulum Ink—a school dedicated to the craft of Hip Hop lyricism—where she studies under elite emcees like Mickey Factz and Chilla Jones.
Desdamona currently serves as the Poetry Ambassador for TruArtSpeaks, and she leads Re-Verb Open Mic at Flava Café and Re-Verb Radio on WFNU, creating consistent platforms for emerging and established voices to be heard.
Speaker: Moira “Miri” Villiard (she/her)
Bio: Moira Villiard (pronounced “Miri”) is a multidisciplinary artist and community organizer originally from Northeastern Minnesota. A direct descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe, she uses art to uplift underrepresented narratives, explore the complexities of shared histories, and build spaces for community healing. Her work spans painting, digital media, collaborative murals, and large-scale projection art, with an emphasis on community participation and access. She considers her primary medium to be space itself – specifically, how people interact with art in shared environments. Her public artworks often incorporate responses from community members and are designed to reflect the cultural landscape of the places where they live.
Moira is the lead artist and organizer behind the Chief Buffalo Memorial mural project, a growing site of Indigenous storytelling and community reflection along the Lake Superior waterfront in Duluth. She is also the founder of Aanjichigeng, an emerging nonprofit supporting Indigenous-led creative work in the Great Lakes watershed region. Other recent projects include Waiting for Beds, a touring exhibit created with Carla Hamilton that focuses on the impact of long mental health care wait times, and Madweyaashkaa, a 150-foot animated projection that premiered as part of Illuminate the Locke in Saint Anthony Falls, created in collaboration with Milie Richard and Lyz Jaakola.
She works full-time as a freelance designer, consultant, and speaker, and has received fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation (2023 Community-Engaged Artist Fellow), and the Bush Foundation (2024–2026 Fellow). Moira is currently pursuing a Master of Human Rights at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where she continues to develop her approach to cultural leadership, systems change, and storytelling as public service.
Moderator: Anitra Budd (she/her)
Bio: Anitra Budd is an experienced freelance editor, copywriter, consultant, and public speaker whose clients include Fortune 500 corporations, literary publishers, marketing agencies, universities, and local and national magazines. Over the course of her career, she’s presented workshops on publishing, editing, and organization for artists at a variety of venues. She holds BA and MA degrees from the University of Minnesota.
Date: August 28, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm CST
Location: Zoom Meeting
Price: Free
Category: Workshop
This program will be held on Zoom. It will not be recorded, but Zoom automated captions will be available.
Registration: Receive the Zoom meeting details by clicking on the Register button above. If you have any questions, call Zaraawar “Z” Mistry at 651-789-2282 or email zaraawar@springboardforthearts.org.
