THE CYPHER | HARLEM ART HOUSE COLLECTIVE
🎤 THE CYPHER S3E1 AT HAHC
Season 3 launches! Join us for THE CYPHER - a monthly series where Harlem's emerging artists gather to perform, connect, and build community.
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WHAT IS THE CYPHER?
Rooted in hip-hop tradition, a cypher is where artists come together to freestyle, support, and elevate each other. At HAHC, we extend this tradition to ALL art forms - poetry, music, spoken word, comedy, storytelling, and more.
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SCHEDULE
DOORS OPEN: 7:30 PM
OPEN MIC & FEATURED PERFORMANCES: 8:00 PM
MUSIC & SOCIAL MIXER: 10:00 PM
Open mic slots (5 min each) are first-come, first-served. We encourage you to arrive by 7:30 PM to sign up.
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FEATURED ARTISTS
🎙️ RASHAWNA (aka Shawna Soulll) | @mzsoulll
Rashawna is a Soul singer and songwriter from the Bronx, NY, creating intimate, reflective music with her raw vocals and baritone ukulele. Drawing inspiration from greats like Nina Simone, Lauryn Hill, Bob Marley, and Erykah Badu, Shawna’s songs connect deeply to the healing power of Black music. Themes of self-discovery, love, and liberation can be found in her lyrics, calling listeners to embrace joy and connect more intimately with themselves. In 2024, Rashawna was honored with the Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) Award. In 2025, she released the project Shawna’s DreamHouse, continuing her exploration of healing, imagination, and personal truth through music.
What to expect: Soul music with jazz, hip hop, and reggae undertones — raw and accompanied by her ukulele. Themes of self-actualizing, alchemizing grief into joy, and the human search for love and acceptance.
🎙️ CAITLIN OTTO | @caitlinnnotto
Caitlin Otto is a Classical/Soul Vocalist trained at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice Performance. A versatile artist who moves fluidly across genres, Caitlin has performed at 54 Below, The Apollo, and on this very block during New York Fashion Week. She is also a voice teacher with years of experience nurturing the next generation of performers. Her artistry is rooted in a powerful conviction: Black voices should not be confined by one genre. Black women can sing anything.
What to expect: A journey through the many genres that have shaped Caitlin into the vocalist she is today — proof that Black women can sing anything.
🎙️ EMPRESSIVE | @empressive_xo
Empressive is all about drawing in the crowd with relatable, real life issues and a bad British accent to lighten the mood. From harsh truths to sober thoughts that spill out as drunken words — she speaks on human experiences with a real world view rather than a rose-colored lens.
What to expect: A set exploring mental health and a vast range of emotions. In honor of Women’s History Month, Empressive centers the experiences of women who are overlooked in their home, work, and social lives — yet expected to show up fully everywhere.
🎙️ WORDCHEFSTEPH | @xowordchefsteph
Stephanie Nieves, also known as wordchefsteph, is a New York–based writer, editor, and gospel arts curator. Her work has appeared in Business Insider, USA Today, Forbes Advisor, Them, Thought Catalog, and Collective World. A former writing instructor at Gotham Writers Workshop, she has also presented her work on Off-Broadway stages in New York City. Stephanie is the founder of Art Inn Heaven, a creative platform celebrating Christian storytelling, poetry, music, and community through faith-centered arts.
What to expect: A set that explores the messy intersection of faith, love, sexuality, and selfhood — beginning with an honest confession to God, moving through the sacred chaos of love and heartbreak, wrestling with loss and loneliness, then turning outward into reclamation of the body, autonomy, and power. The set closes on a poem about becoming born again.
🎙️ KASHE | @jazznflowyoga
Kashe is a Texas native and jazz vocalist who studied Music Performance with a concentration in Jazz Studies at Texas Southern University. Drawing inspiration from Carmen McCrae, Billie Holiday, and Sarah Vaughan, Kashe has woven her love of jazz together with her practice as a yoga teacher to create something entirely her own — Meditative Jazz: a slow, soulful soundscape where breath, rhythm, and improvisation meet, inviting the body to soften, the mind to quiet, and the spirit to move freely within the music.
What to expect: An improvisation-based meditative jazz experience focused on breath, stillness, and emotional release.
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WHO THIS IS FOR
Emerging artists, creatives, and community members in Harlem and NYC who want to:
• Share their work in a supportive space
• Connect with other local artists
• Be part of a creative community
• Find their tribe
All experience levels welcome. Whether this is your first time sharing your work or you're a seasoned performer, The Cypher is your space.
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FAQs
Q: What time should I arrive for an open mic slot? A: Doors open at 7:30 PM. Sign-up is first-come, first-served, so arrive early.
Q: Are there refreshments? A: Light snacks and beverages available for purchase while supplies last. VIP ticket holders get one complimentary snack and beverage.
Q: What should I bring to perform? A: Whatever you need for your 5-minute set. All art forms welcome.
Q: What's the vibe? A: Community-first. Supportive. Real. This is a space where artists uplift each other and the audience becomes family.
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🌍 WHEN YOU PERFORM HERE, YOU HEAL THERE
This event is part of the HAHC Fund Event Series, raising essential funds for the August 2026 Medical Missions Trip to the Dominican Republic.
Every ticket purchased directly supports:
• Essential medical supplies
• Community healthcare services
• Sustainable care initiatives
HAHC events between January-June 2026 help bring critical healthcare to underserved communities in the DR. Your presence at The Cypher makes a difference both here in Harlem and abroad.
Learn more about the mission: tinyurl.com/DRMedMissionInfo
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ABOUT HAHC
Harlem Art House Collective is dedicated to building community, empowering artists, and changing the (art) world. We create accessible platforms for BIPOC artists through exhibitions, performances, and community programming. HAHC is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
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CONNECT WITH US
📱 @harlemarthousecollective