Heart Of The Arts with Roni Nicole

03/25/2026

Hi Y'all,
Heart Of The Arts with Roni Nicole will be back NEXT week, please enjoy a replay of last week's show! Xo-Roni

02/26/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for yesterday’s episode of Heart Of The Arts with Roni Nicole. We took a deep look at the history of beadwork as a living language across African, Afro-Caribbean, Hispanic/Indigenous Mexican, and Indigenous traditions.

We explored how beadwork has carried identity, coded communication, spiritual meaning, political record, and cultural survival. From Zulu beadwork and Haitian drapo to Wixárika sacred symbolism and Haudenosaunee wampum belts. Across communities, beadwork has never been just decoration; it has been a way to preserve memory, express belonging, protect tradition, and resist erasure.

Thank you for listening, learning, and sharing space with us. We’re grateful to everyone who continues to make Heart of the Arts with Roni Nicole / Big Bang Nicole a place for art, history, and liberation-centered conversation.

We'll see you next week! ✨🎤

02/04/2026

Heart Of The Arts with Roni Nicole would like to thank for stopping by the studio today!
Church thank you for bringing your whole self to the mic today. Thank you for the truth, the tenderness, the fire, and the way your words don’t just sound good they DO something. You reminded us that poetry can be a shelter and a spotlight at the same time, a balm and a bell.

And to everyone listening, thank you for showing up with open ears and open hearts. Thank you for making space for art that tells the truth, for staying present with the parts that challenge us, and for letting language move you toward something freer.

If something Church shared lit a spark in you, don’t let it end with the last song. Follow on Instagram, tap in, and pull up to the events he mentioned on air—bring a friend, bring your voice, bring your curiosity. These gatherings are where community gets built in real time: where poems turn into conversations, and conversations turn into change.

Until next time—protect your peace, feed your spirit, and keep choosing liberation, one brave word at a time!!

02/04/2026

Heart Of The Arts with Roni Nicole is excited to welcome to Heart of The Arts Today!!
Make sure you tune in 3-5PM at www.mixcloud.com/live/oak935 to see the show!!

02/02/2026

✨ Last Week's Liberation Lab: The Crown Audit ✨

Last week's Liberation Lab is simple, practical, and powerful: do a “Crown Audit.”

Pick ONE place you spend time—your job, your kid’s school, your church, your gym, your rehearsal room, your community center—anywhere with “rules.”

Step 1: Find the language.
Look for anything that mentions dress code, grooming, professionalism, or appearance. If it’s not written, pay attention to what gets enforced anyway.

Step 2: Clock the coded words.
If you see phrases like “neat,” “tidy,” “extreme,” “distracting,” “unusual,” “well-groomed,” or “appropriate,”

Then ask: Appropriate for who?

These are often used to police Black hair without saying “Black hair.”

Step 3: Remix the rule.
Here’s a ready-to-use sentence you can copy/paste into an email, message, or policy suggestion:

“Natural hair textures and protective styles including locs, braids, twists, afros, knots, and headwraps—are welcome here and will not be policed under ‘professionalism’ or ‘grooming’ standards.”

Step 4: Make ONE move.
Share your remix sentence with a leader/admin/HR, post it in a group chat, or—if you’re in charge—add it to your handbook, casting notice, or community guidelines.

Reflection:
Where did YOU learn that “professional” meant “closer to white”?
And
What would it look like to let people show up in their full crown—without negotiation?

If you do the Crown Audit, comment “DONE” and tell us what you found (no names needed—just the vibe + the policy language). Let’s change the world, TOGETHER. 👑✊🏾

02/02/2026

Thank you to everyone who tuned in to Heart Of The Arts with Roni Nicole last Wednesday! 💛

We spent our time exploring beauty as an art form—the technique, creativity, ritual, and cultural storytelling that lives in hair, style, and self-presentation.
We dug into the deeper truth that beauty has never been “just beauty,” especially for marginalized communities. We talked about hair as history and resistance—from the ways braiding and beauty practices carried survival knowledge under slavery, to the long shadow of respectability politics and the modern reality of hair discrimination in schools and workplaces. And we closed with a Liberation Lab challenge: do a Crown Audit in one space you belong to!

🎧 If you missed it live, catch the replay and share it with someone who needs the reminder: your crown is not up for debate. ❤🖤💚✊🏾

✨ Join us this Wednesday as we return to poetry as an art form, with a special focus on protest and liberation poetry—the words that carried movements, sparked courage, and kept people alive through struggle. Bring your ears, bring your heart, and if you have a favorite liberation poem or poet, drop it in the comments so we can celebrate them on air.

See you Wednesday!!!
www.mixcloud.com/live/oak935
Wednesday February 4, 2026 3-5PM EST

Broadcast live to your community of fans and tune in direct to creators from every genre

10/09/2025

Missed the show? Here's your Freire Everyday Tip from Wednesday's broadcast! ✨✊🏾👇🏾

✨ Embodied Question ✨
On Wednesday, we asked: What does tension feel like in motion?

Create a 30-second movement phrase around a shared emotion — fatigue, joy, vigilance — and let your bodies ask the question our words cannot. Then, teach it, share it, and listen with your skin and bones.

This is praxis beyond text — Paulo Freire’s reminder that liberation isn’t just spoken, it’s embodied. Together, we can co-created and name our felt reality.

Next up: add an 8-count born from community feedback and take it public — right there in a city nook, breathing the question into the world.

10/09/2025

Thank You, Heart of the Arts Family for Speaking Truth and Imagining Freedom With Heart Of The Arts with Roni Nicole !!🔥🎙️

Yesterday’s episode of Heart Of The Arts was powerful. We dove deep into ’s legacy and what it means for standing on the frontlines of resistance right now — artists facing ICE, censorship, and the rising tide of fascism.
I’m so grateful to every listener who tuned in, reflected, called, and shared your stories.
You remind me that art is not just something we create — it’s something we practice together. taught that to name the world is to it, and that’s exactly what we did today: we named fear, we named courage, and we named our collective power.
Thank you for believing that art can be both sanctuary and strategy, that imagination can be a weapon, and that every song, brushstroke, and story can move us closer to liberation.

We're closing out on October 15, 2025 by continuing to build this Freirean front together — with love, truth, and creative defiance. ✊🏾🎤✨🩵

🎧 with Roni Nicole / Big Bang Nicole Wednesdays 3–5 PM | WRLY-LP Oak 93.5 FM Raleigh | streaming live at www.mixcloud.com/live/oak935

Broadcast live to your community of fans and tune in direct to creators from every genre