About Us: Mission, Vision + Goals

Mission

Founded by Nikki Patin in 2014, Surviving the Mic is a Black, femme, and non-binary led organization of survivors whose mission is to amplify and support the power of the voices of survivors of harm. With a priority focus on gender-based violence and intersectionality, Surviving the Mic amplifies survivors of harm via writing workshops, curated performances, access to community-based resources, and paid opportunities to showcase their artistry.

Surviving the Mic (StM) supports and centers survivors on the page, on the stage, and in rooms where their past experiences merge with their artistry to speak truth, poetry, story, and all variations of voice, to power.

Our collective goal is to shift the current and evolve the culture: towards humanity and away from harm.

Our Why

How do we hold space for the story of the hardest day or days of someone’s life? How do we bear witness and hold space without causing further harm? How do we ensure that amplification leads to liberation and not vilification?

Through Surviving the Mic, survivors fight the enemy that is the secret weapon of harmdoers: silence. 

Vision

When we refuse to be silent, when we give voice to what has happened to us, when we say what happened, we amplify our power to shift the current and evolve the culture.

The goals of Surviving the Mic are:

• Teach literary and performance techniques so that survivors can tell their stories in the ways that suit them best, with an emphasis on bravery, dynamism, and personal power
• Provide education on abuse culture, including history and data on the impact of violence and exploitation, with a priority focus on amplifying groups who have been silenced politically and culturally
• Amplify the work of artists connected with StM
• Support those who hold space with or document survivors and artists via consulting and coaching
• Resource those in community with StM as teachers, featured artists, or participants with stipends, publishing, performance, educational, and other opportunities, as well as social service and therapeutic supports
• Maintain an online space for workshops and performances, as well as retail space for artists to sell their creative work