How we can work together
Six ways to work together. Each one operates in the temperature the room needs. Universities and foundations get the rigor. Community spaces get the breath. Creatives and small-business owners get the partnership. The work moves across all of them because the questions I am asking about race, the carceral state, disasters, art, Black women, freedom, cannot be answered in only one of them.
Pick the one closest to what you need. If you are not sure, send a note and we will figure it out together.
Research & scholarship talks
Tell me, what do you do when freedom ain't really free?
That is how I open a research talk. Then I make the scholarly claim.
Keynotes, lectures, and panels for universities, foundations, conferences, and policy convenings. Recent topics:
Scholar-artivism: when scholarship refuses to stay in the academy.
Black women, disasters, and the carceral state.
The impossibility of habitability: the carceral state as ecological catastrophe.
Disaster vulnerability is built.
Formats
Keynote (45–60 minutes + Q&A) - most common.
Panel or fireside chat (30–60 minutes).
Artist-talk + Q&A (60–90 minutes).
Multi-day residency (2–5 days) — talks, workshops, and classroom visits combined.
Workshops & webinars
Where are we starting? Where are we trying to go?
That is how I open a workshop. The body of the session is in scholar register - rigorous, citational, structured. The frame stays invitational throughout.
Sample sessions
Arts-based methods for social-science researchers: how to take the stories your data hands you and let them stay alive in your scholarship.
Writing scholarship from the standpoint of the marginalized: epistemological assumptions, IRB navigation, authorship, and credit.
Designing arts-and-research collaborations: what a real partnership with directly impacted artists looks like (and what it doesn't).
Disasters, carcerality, and care: for emergency management programs, public-health teams, and policy schools.
Format
90 minutes - half day for groups of 8–60.
Multi-session series for cohorts (3–6 weeks).
Webinar format for distributed audiences.
Community dialogues & discussions
Different room. Different work.
Community dialogues open with the breath, naming who is in the room, the lineage we are standing on, the questions we are here to hold together. The body of the dialogue moves through invitation, not lecture. I bring a poem, a prompt, and a willingness to follow where the room takes us.
What this looks like
A BTWBTL-style gathering: spoken word, story, dialogue. For movement organizations, community centers, churches, and arts collectives.
A community read-along or watch-party with discussion. For book clubs, justice-and-arts orgs, and grassroots research circles.
A fireside conversation with directly impacted artists or community leaders, co-facilitated.
A "behind the walls" listening session, bringing voices from inside out, with consent and care.
What I do not do here
Lecture as if I am the only one who knows things. The room knows things. My job is to make space for them.
Creative coaching
For the small-business owners, creatives, and artists I work with, especially Black women, women of color, and the dreamers who have been told their work is too much or not enough.
Coaching with me looks like a question before a claim, a goal you name out loud, accountability without surveillance, and the words you used given back to you in the next session. We work on what you decide matters. I do not tell you what to do. I help you build the practice that lets you do it.
What we work on (you choose)
The artist statement, the bio, the website copy you have been avoiding.
Pricing your work without apologizing for it.
The next paid client, the next show, the next piece you have been carrying around.
The voice for the platforms you use and the rooms you are stepping into.
The boundaries with collaborators, clients, and family who don't get it yet.
The thing under the thing, the why that keeps the work alive when the practical stuff gets hard.
Formats
1:1 monthly retainer: two 60-minute calls a month, async support between.
4-week or 8-week sprint: focused work on one named goal.
Group coaching cohorts: small groups of Black women creatives and small-business owners.
Half-day intensives: for when you need to move fast on something specific.
How we start
Send me a note at info@feliciahenry.com with the one thing you most want to be different in your work three months from now. I will respond with whether I am the right fit and what coming aboard would look like.
For the dreamers, always.
Research projects & contracts
Funded research, contracted studies, evaluation work, and writing partnerships at the intersection of the carceral state, disasters and the environment, Black women's experiences, and arts-based methods.
I bring phenomenological methods that center participants, IRB navigation experience, and a record of moving findings off the page into co-curated showcases. My work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Arnold Ventures Foundation, and the University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative.
What I look for in a project
A question about the carceral state, disasters and the environment, Black women's experiences in the criminal legal system, or the intersection of any two of these.
A willingness to credit and compensate community collaborators, including directly impacted artists, organizers, and research participants.
A research design that does not treat the directly impacted as a data set.
Realistic timelines that respect both academic and community calendars.
How I collaborate
PI or Co-PI on funded research.
Lead writer or contributing author on contracted reports and evaluations.
Methods consultant for arts-and-research projects led by community organizations.
Reviewer or external advisor for foundation-funded research portfolios.
Inquiries
Send a one-page summary of the project, scope, and budget range to info@feliciahenry.com. I respond within 10 business days.
RFPs & proposal writing
Tell me, what do you do when the proposal asks for plain prose and your work is anything but?
I help nonprofits, community organizations, mission-driven small businesses, and Black-led research collectives write proposals that put values on the page from the first paragraph without sacrificing the rigor that funders are reading for.
Funders fund work; they also fund people. The proposal has to do both.
What I bring
Voice. The proposal sounds like you, not like every other proposal in the stack.
Structure. Theory of change, methodology, deliverables, budget, in the order that builds the argument.
Clarity. Plain language where plain language works; precise terminology where it earns its place.
A refusal to let the proposal be all jargon and no breath.
How I work
Hands-on collaboration: you write, I sharpen, we revise together. Best for teams who want to grow their own proposal-writing muscle.
Lead writer: you brief me, I draft, we revise. Best for tight deadlines or first-time applicants.
Inquiries
Send the RFP, the deadline, and a paragraph about what you most want the proposal to do at info@feliciahenry.com. Sliding scale available for small grassroots organizations.
Logistics — what I bring, and what I need from you
In-person and virtual (Zoom, Teams, your platform of choice).
Standard AV: HDMI/USB-C projection, wireless lavalier, ability to play 1080p video with sound.
Honorarium: share your event details, and I will reply with a proposal that reflects format, audience, and your organization's scale. Sliding scale available for community organizations and student-led events.
Travel: I work domestically and internationally. Please factor in travel and accommodations.
Accessibility: ASL interpretation, captioning, and accessible venue requirements honored. Tell me what your audience needs.
Submit an inquiry
Send the following to info@feliciahenry.com or use the form below:
Which of the six offerings you are interested in.
Event name, date(s), and location (or "virtual").
Audience size and composition.
What you most want this work to do for your audience or organization.
Honorarium budget range.
I respond within 5 business days.