When the mayor of Buffalo, New York, tapped Aitina Fareed-Cooke to function the town’s poet laureate, there was a quick second of hesitation—not as a result of she wasn’t excited, however as a result of the multi-hyphenate artistic already had so many initiatives on her plate. “I’m a mother, a wife, a community builder, a business owner, and I sit on a couple of boards,” Fareed-Cooke says. She’s additionally the founding father of Get Fokus’d Productions, an award-winning manufacturing firm by which she runs the Fokus’d Kreatives apprenticeship, a personalized program supporting rising artists in Buffalo. “The more I sat with the mayor’s invitation, the more it made sense. I was invited to speak at Buffalo City Hall when I was a kid—it felt like home,” Fareed-Cooke says.
Growing up in Buffalo’s foster care system, Fareed-Cooke navigated important challenges all through her youth. One day, a steering counselor gave her a pen and inspired her to specific herself. “From there, I found freedom in the arts,” says Fareed-Cooke. It started with writing and drawing, then rapping, images, and videography. All the whereas, Buffalo’s artistic neighborhood was there to bolster her efforts, whether or not it was by private mentorships or community-based arts applications. “I was labeled a failure to thrive by society, but I was able to thrive because of the community,” Fareed-Cooke says.
Here, the Buffalo native exhibits off her favourite native cease offs across the metropolis. “There’s a whole lot of character here. It’s a hidden gem,” says Fareed Cooke. From exploring the thriving arts scene to supporting small companies to discovering artistic inspiration in nature, right here’s how the poet laureate spends her time.
Gallery hopping and accessible arts areas
According to Fareed-Cooke, any art-filled exploration of Buffalo ought to begin at CEPA Gallery, a recent images studio and visible arts middle in the guts of downtown. Founded in the course of the different Spaces Movement in the ‘70s as a community darkroom and exhibition space, the gallery is an example of the city’s communal, inventive coronary heart. “When I have first-time visitors, I like to take them to CEPA, put a camera in their hand, and show them a different side of Buffalo,” says Fareed-Cooke.