Dark Muse Performing Arts

08/25/2025

🌱 Meet Nicole M. Smith 🌱 This weaver of art, justice, and radical healing is another SOUL CARE featured artist!

Make a take-home peace pouch with her! A small canvas satchel filled with healing herbs + palo santo pieces is a gentle reminder to ✨ b r e a t h e ✨ These pocket buddies are comfort objects that help ground us and ease the stress of back-to-school scaries. The sensory ritual of this artmaking invites in nectar and sweetness 🍯

Swipe to read her thoughtful and reflective answers to our get-to-know-you prompts. This FREE, family friendly arts pop-up is your soft place to land. THIS Saturday Midtown Global Market



Cover image description: Nicole is smiling with her hand on her heart standing in front of a mosaic mural. She has dark brown skin and black hair, she is wearing a white t-shirt, blue denim jeans, colorful bracelets and circular green earrings. The background is a deep eggplant with medium purple sparkles. *Image text in the comments*

08/21/2025

💜 Meet Aliya Grace 💜 Our featured vocalist will be serving up soul, groove, and pure vibes - along with a live band!! So you can get to know this absolute queen a little better, we asked her:

✨ What’s your fave way to care for yourself? ✨
My favorite way to care for myself is by spending alone time with God, and engaging in relaxing activities which support that.

✨Why is softness important to you?✨
Softness is important to me personally because it’s only natural! Society may try to convince us otherwise, but I don’t buy it!

Don’t miss the vocal stylings of on Saturday, August 30th at !

Aliya Grace is a Singer, Songwriter, & Performer originally from Minnesota. She’s grateful to inspire others through her gift of music with her genuine & raw writing, her soft & soulful voice, her groovy & energetic performance style, and her vibrant & feminine energy.

08/14/2025

come and get your love 🫂🤍

kick back + chill with us labor day wknd
8/30 • 11a-2p •
free! family friendly!

05/25/2024

🌟 in our winning shining thriving era 🌟

Blessings have been raining down on ! Infinite gratitude for the way y’all continue to show up for us - been flowing & glowing four years strong now 💫 and we’ve got generations to go.

03/05/2024

New lewk, who dis? 👀 Say hellooo to our new brand! ✨

In the summer of 2020, when our cities were burning following the murder of George Floyd, we created a space to express and heal. That cleansing fire sparked a new creative flame and was born. We’ve been curating radical care experiences since that very first protest and we intend to cultivate staying power. Thanks for all your love & support thus far.

An enormous shoutout to abolitionist design studio Blackbird Revolt for executing this brand creation flawlessly 💅🏽 and for being incredible partners along the way. Y’all are some real ones! Give them a follow 😎

In the coming weeks we will be reintroducing Dark Muse, highlighting some of the community work we’ve done for our new follower friends and sharing exciting updates about what’s next for this budding grassroots org. 🌱

10/20/2023

What’s the tea? 👀 Find out tonight. 8pm. Phoenix Theater.

It’s finally here!!! We’re drooling just thinking about ’s spread of beautiful soufflé pancakes and charcuterie 🤤 The tea bar of your dreams will have allll the options: hot, iced, yummy flavors & all the fixins 🫖

Don’t miss these three drag ICONS slay the stage 🤘🏽 Only ~30 seats left! Secure your spot at the RSVP link in B!0 or grab your FREE ticket at the door 🥳 let’s goooooo

08/18/2022

🌱 location update! 🌱 Have you RSVP’d for a dream sesh yet?? We are over the moon excited to announce that our in person gathering will be at Render Free 🤍 We are big fans of this dreamy, healing space and it’ll be the perfect, comfy spot for us to connect with one another! ☁️ (or you can join our virtual dream space!)

What exactly is a “dreaming session”? We’re hosting these events for a few reasons. 1) To ensure our offerings include programming intentionally designed/built with you in mind - so we’ll ideate! 2) To envision what a liberated, better future looks like for all of us as a collective and as individual artists & humans - so we’ll dream! 3) To hang 😎 We know these are trying times and we see you. We want to nourish your body and your soul with free food & community care ✨

Sun. 8/28, 2-4pm - BIPOC &/or Q***r in person gathering at Render Free (3501 Aldrich Ave S) free community meal!

Mon. 8/29, 6:30-8pm - Virtual dream space (via zoom) ALL are welcome, free goodie bag!

RSVP (link below) and please help spread the word!

https://darkmusearts.org/events

08/01/2022

👀 Guess who’s back in the house?! 👀

Thanks for sticking with us while we took some time to rest, build and re-center. Our first order of business is to SEE YOU! That’s right, we’ve planned an extra special event later this month where we want to connect with community. Announcing: Dark Muse Dreaming Sessions ☁️✨

From the inception of this arts and cultural collective, we have wanted to build better - thoughtfully, intentionally, equitably, spiritually. We want our communities to feel ownership over what we do, our programming will be designed with and for you. These sacred dreaming spaces will center BIPOC & Q***r communities and their hopes/dreams for our individual and collective futures. We want to know what you want & need, what makes you feel seen, helps get you closer to free and how we can support your growth and craft(s).

Art heals and its transformative power can shift us toward radical change. We practice visioning so we may transition from the scarcity mindset of capitalism and ideate from a place of abundance and anti-oppression. Dark Muse is constantly striving to be a community driven force in moving toward healing and liberation with our offerings. 🌱

DEETS:
Sunday, August 28, 2-4pm - In person BIPOC & Q***r Happy Hour 🔥 Free community meal provided! Gathering location to be announced 🔜
Monday, August 29, 6:30-8pm - Virtual dream space via Zoom ⚡ All are welcome! (centering BIPOC & Q***r voices) Register soon for a free goodie bag with snacks/treats 🍬

Come dream with us… ☁️✨ RSVP for a dream sesh & help spread the word so we can have as many voices represented as possible! 🤍

https://forms.gle/aFParzW44hfjXcGv9

Upcoming events ✨ DARK MUSE DREAMING SESSIONS ✨ From the inception of this arts and cultural collective, we have wanted to build better - thoughtfully, intentionally, equitably, spiritually. We want our communities to feel ownership over what we do, our programming will be designed with and for ...

03/15/2022

We are so honored to be featured in VoyageMinnesota Magazine as part of their “Change-Makers: Stories That Inspire” series! Check out the link below to read the article and learn all about our Founder, Vanessa Brooke Agnes, and how Dark Muse was born from both struggle and hope. 🤍 We’ve got big plans for our community this year, stay tuned. ✨

https://voyageminnesota.com/interview/conversations-with-vanessa-brooke-agnes/

11/18/2021

is here! Dark Muse has been taking some much need restoration in preparation for our exciting new year! Your gift today will help us continue to provide programming and resources to amplify the voices of BIPOC & Q***r artists. Thank you for your support! https://darkmusearts.org/support?form=thankyou