By Don Rhodes II | The Birmingham Times
In the heart of Birmingham, where creativity and community intersect, Jahman Hill is planting seeds of change through art, education, and empowerment. A poet, playwright, filmmaker, and educator, Hill is the executive director of The Flourish Alabama, a nonprofit organization nurturing young artists and reshaping narratives about Black identity and possibility.
Currently, Hill is working on a new creative venture: a documentary centered on the creation of a Black Arts District in Ensley, supported by a grant from the Southern Artists for Social Change. “The documentary isn’t going to be traditional,” Hill explained. “You’ll feel like you’re at a concert or watching a music video. It’s genre-bending. I want to make it an amalgamation of everything that is art.”
But even as his documentary takes shape, Hill, 31 remains deeply rooted in his community work. “Outside of that, I’ve been working on just getting back into performing poetry and music. I’ve spent a lot of time building The Flourish, but now I’m also looking at doing some keynote speaking,” he shared.
The origin of The Flourish itself is a story born from Hill’s own academic journey. As a college student at the University of Alabama Hill didn’t want to write a traditional thesis paper. Instead, he crafted a series of poems that evolved into a one-man show called Black Enough. That project laid the foundation for what would become The Flourish in 2019.
“It all started with a question I asked some youth: ‘What does it mean to be Black?’ Their answers were all negative,” he recalled. “I thought — what if we attach Blackness to a positive idea? That’s where the theory of The Flourish came from. Black people are infinitely possible beings.”
Hill, along with co-founder and creative director Eric Marable Jr., grew the concept into an arts showcase that eventually blossomed into a nonprofit organization. “Our logo today is literally from the flyer of our very first event at the Freedom House,” Hill said.
As executive director, Hill’s days are anything but predictable. “One day I’m teaching African American studies to students in our summer program. The next, I’m in meetings with artists or partners about a festival or potential collaboration,” he said. “Some days, I’m chasing principals around to get programming in schools. It’s a little bit of everything.”
And the results speak for themselves.
Hill lights up when he talks about students who’ve thrived under The Flourish’s programming. “Our administrative assistant, Charles, started as a high school senior in our cell phone cinema program,” he said. “Now, he’s the nexus of The Flourish. Every contract, every payment, every artist it all flows through Charles. He’s grown with us and now holds the organization together.”
Another story that stands out to Hill is of a student named Jiah. “She couldn’t be in our summer program much because she had to finish summer school,” he recalled. “But she stayed in touch with us. This year, she told us she’s graduating and going to college. We even helped pay for her graduation fees. I told her, ‘You’re part of The Flourish whether you were in every session or not. We claim you.’”
With six years of programming under their belt, Hill and his team are now seeing their earliest students graduate high school and head off to college from Montevallo to Alabama State University to the University of Alabama. “One of my own college students at UA said, ‘Wait…you run The Flourish? I was in that program!’” Hill laughed.
As both an artist and professor at Alabama, Hill’s identity is deeply woven into The Flourish’s mission. “I ask myself: what are the things I wish I had as a young artist? And then we build those,” he said. “Whether it’s paying artists fairly or preparing them for touring, we want to be the organization that treats artists with the respect they deserve.”
Looking to the future, Hill is focused on building out the Black Arts District in Ensley and launching a music recording studio. “We’re hoping to open the studio and a photography gallery next door. That’s the next big thing,” he said. “And we’re working on a pipeline to offer early college credit in African American studies to students in our programs.”
Asked his final thoughts at the end of the interview, Hill returned to what drives him. “We care about artists. Period. Whether you’re working with The Flourish or working with me personally — I’m trying to help you make your dream a reality,” he said. “Collaboration is my favorite thing.”
For more information on The Flourish www.theflourishal.com
