Climbing PoeTree

Climbing PoeTree is the spoken-word duo of Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman. Over the last 13 years, Climbing PoeTree has infused movements for justice with healing and imagination, inspiring thousands through their award-winning multimedia theater, hip-hop spoken word, visual art, sustainable touring, and community organizing. 

Garcia and Penniman are cultural architects committed to reframing the story through deep research around the most pressing issues of our time into stunning artistry that catalyzes their audiences to activate the transformation they wish to cultivate within themselves and their communities. 

Climbing PoeTree has appeared from South Africa to Cuba, the United Kingdom to Mexico, and throughout the United States, including 11,000 miles toured on a bus converted to run on recycled vegetable oil.

They have been featured alongside visionaries such as Alice Walker, Danny Glover, Cornel West, Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Naomi Klein and Vandana Shiva.

What People are Saying about Climbing PoeTree

"Each time I have the pleasure of attending a performance by Climbing PoeTree, I feel enriched, renewed, and inspired. Alixa and Naima insist that poetry can change the world — and it is true that the urgency, power and beauty of their words impel us to keep striving for the radical futures toward which they gesture.”

—Angela Davis