Mayda Del Valle - A culminating performance from their residency and discussion surrounding, Herencia (Inheritance), an interdisciplinary work-in-progress exploring memory and the Puerto Rican presence on Chicago's South Side.

Mayda del Valle was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. She is the author of The University of Hip Hop and a winner of the 2016 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize from Northwestern University Press. Her full-length collection, A South Side Girl’s Guide to Love and Sex, was published by Tia Chucha press. She has appeared on six episodes of the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and was a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway.

She has performed at venues around the world, including the White House in May of 2009, by invitation of President Obama and the First Lady. Most recently, Mayda was the recipient of the 2025 Letras Boricuas Fellowship, sponsored by Flamboyan Arts Fund and the Mellon Foundation.