Miki Vale

Count Us In

The Artist

Miki Vale is an award-winning San Diego-based Hip Hop artist, playwright, sound designer, arts educator, U.S. State Department Cultural Arts Ambassador, and founder of SoulKiss Theater. For nearly three decades, she has written and performed music, created theatre, mentored artists, brought communities together, and used Hip Hop as a tool for international cultural exchange. Vale first found her voice through poetry and music, discovering how personal stories could become a source of connection and purpose. Her work spans original music, theatrical productions, and collaborative projects. Recent projects include in lieu of flwrz, a Hip Hop musical and companion book centering Black queer women and exploring generational cycles. Her collaborative approach invites people to help shape the work through listening, dialogue, and shared artistic expression. Belonging, representation, creative opportunity, and the conditions artists need to sustain their lives are central to her practice.

Miki Vale

The Project

Miki Vale’s Count Us In: Creative Conversations for San Diego’s Artistic Future will bring artists, arts leaders, and civic decision-makers together around one question: What do artists need to survive, thrive, and stay in San Diego?

The project will begin with facilitated gatherings centering artists and cultural workers connected to the Black Arts & Culture District, Barrio Logan’s Chicano and Latine communities, and young and emerging artists across the city. Community collaborators will help shape each gathering, using creative activities and shared dialogue to explore the costs of making art, gaps in resources, and ideas for lasting support.

A subsequent phase will bring arts leaders, funders, institutions, and civic decision-makers into conversation with participating artists about the conditions needed to sustain creative lives.

Vale and her collaborators will then transform the stories, language, and ideas emerging from these exchanges into a Hip Hop theater work featuring original music, spoken word, storytelling, movement, and sound. A free public performance will share the work with a wider audience.

Rather than beginning with a finished script, Count Us In will grow from what participants contribute, recognizing artists as essential voices in the conversations and decisions shaping San Diego’s cultural future.

More Work

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