Darius V. Daughtry - Storyteller

You can expect a professional and creative experience. Whether as a performer or speaker, I engage the audience with authentic and passionate expression.
Many may leave inspired and motivated, others will eave with a sense of discomfort that might move them to make changes in their lives.
Either way, it is guaranteed to be a great time.

Darius V. Daughtry fell in love with words at the age of six. It was then, that he used to write and draw his own comic books. While the pictures left a little to be desired, being able to paint pictures with words was a passion that soon began to blossom. Darius has been marrying the pen to the paper ever since.

After graduating from the University of Florida, Darius floundered around in Corporate America until he answered a call to teach. He spent 10 years as a public-school teacher at Lauderhill Middle and Northeast High Schools, where he devoted his energy to being the impactful male role model he never saw in his classrooms as. student.

Knowing the transformative power of the arts, Darius used his passion poetry and theatre as vehicles to reach the students he taught. He created in-school and after-school programs that gave students opportunities to find and express themselves as creators and performers.

Darius is an accomplished poet, playwright, director, and educator with over a decade worth of experience in South Florida and beyond. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Art Prevails Project, a performing arts organization dedicated to expanding cultural conversation through theatrical performance, arts education, and community engagement. Darius has spearheaded literacy initiatives with NFL Hall-of-Famer Jason Taylor and with poet and actor, Omari Hardwick.

Through Art Prevails Project, Darius has created a platform for artists to engage with community. Saturday Sessions, a monthly showcase curated and presented in the Sistrunk area of Fort Lauderdale, provided powerful artistic program in an area often void of such experiences. Supported by the Community Foundation of Broward, Broward Cultural Division, and others, Art Prevails Project has helped build careers and expose community members to amazing artists and businesses.

Darius has been commissioned to write, perform, and conduct workshops for various organizations: the City of Pembroke Pines, Broward Center of Performing Arts, the Poetry Foundation, O, Miami, City of Fort Lauderdale, Miami-Dade Schools, Broward Schools, Dranoff International and more.

He has written and directed performances for numerous groups and organizations - South Florida Symphony (Porgy and Bess)k ArtServe (RedEye), Broward Cultural Division (Sistrunk Market Place, State of Black Broward), Old Dillard Museum (Juneteenth, Kwanzaa), The World Aids Museum (Saving Grace), and more. Mr. Daughtry is currently a member of the Sistrunk Artists in Residence cohort.

His recently published book of poetry, And the Walls Came Tumbling, is an introspective poetic memoir and sweeping cultural critique. Equal parts praise dance and eulogy, And the Walls Came Tumbling is full of vulnerable, introspective poems that explore societal constructs - race, class, gender – and questions their existence on our lives.

His upcoming projects for 2019 include “The Happening: A Theatrical Mixtape, Volume III,” a creative arts summer camp, and numerous community-centered collaborations.

I just need space and the opportunity. Depending upon the event, sound amplification will be necessary. Smaller, more intimate events may not require microphones.
For motivational speaking events, video projection may be needed.