A Reverence for What’s Unfinished - Extended Edition

Thank you for encouraging and elevating Christian artists through Arts Fellowship Orlando! Camara Gaither, 2024 Arts Fellowship Alum and Orlando Poet Laureate, says, “Arts Fellowship Orlando is extremely catalytic for artists, to be able to feel the energy and the gift of being around other Christian artists. And it’s such a great validation of our calling—to see it as a calling, to see it as truly significant, that it has a place in the Kingdom—when this work is supported.”

Here and there, Camara Gaither was performing spoken word poetry, but as a former missionary and graduate student, her identity felt splintered—missionary, therapist, poet. It was a time of waiting, and she felt restless for resolution. Then because of your generosity, she was able to dive into Arts Fellowship Orlando as a part of their 2024 cohort where she was lovingly exhorted to lean into the waiting. When she did, the glory of God stirred in her, enriching all that would come forth from her—and for her.

At school, 8-year-old Camara loved recess and PE. Otherwise, she struggled to feel inspired by her schoolwork. One day, her teacher lit a spark. Camara recalls, “She was talking about creating vivid, rich descriptions of what you see, hear, feel, taste, all that, and we were also learning about how to create haikus. I just leaned in.” All at once, words became tactile, energetic, prismatic. 

. . . her identity felt splintered—missionary, therapist, poet.

She started to write story after story, poem after poem, just for fun. “I had this little marigold folder and I would create work,” she says fondly, “and back then, Hello Kitty and some of the Japanese anime characters were really in, so they were the subjects of my stories.” In high school, she was always journaling and scrapbooking, “always writing sad, little poems,” and printing out song lyrics to analyze. 

When she entered college at the University of Tampa, her poetry transformed. Poet and professor Erica Dawson took her under her wing, encouraging her in and out of the classroom, and Camara flourished. It was during this time that she also stumbled upon Def Poetry Jam, an early 2000s television series featuring performances by spoken word poets and well-known actors and singers. 

She says, “When I saw people that looked like me memorizing their poetry and moving their limbs and changing the volume and pitch of their voice, and expressing something theatrically, that’s when I felt like—ooh—there’s something about this that feels like me.”

It’s always a joy to be recognized for your intentionality and boldness, and Camara has had that opportunity multiple times as a spoken word poet at FusionFest, Central Florida’s International Arts & Culture Festival!

Fast forward to 2023, Camara had been a missionary with InterVarsity for years, had left to enroll in graduate school, and was winning more and more poetry slams on the side. She was unsure what her future looked like—as a former missionary, as a future therapist, as a poet. 

Then with only two weeks left to apply, she learned about Arts Fellowship Orlando (AFO), a six-month fellowship for Christian artists in the intersection of art and faith. She had been wondering, “What does it mean to not just think of this as something that I happen to be gifted in and do on the side? What does it mean to think about this as a way that God wants to speak, to communicate, to storytell who He is, what He’s doing in the city, what He’s doing in the world?” She applied and was accepted. 

Within the professionally and spiritually nurturing atmosphere of AFO, alongside five fellow Christian artists of different disciplines, Camara felt herself stretch. A core component of the program is a series of three mini showcases where the artists present their works in progress coming up to the final showcase, a scenario unheard of in the spoken word community.

“What does it mean to think about this [spoken word] as a way that God wants to speak, to communicate, to storytell who He is, what He’s doing in the city, what He’s doing in the world?”

Camara explains, “That’s embarrassing or that’s no-no. We wait till the thing is finished, memorized, polished, and then you perform and people are like, ‘Wow.’” However, throughout the program, she was required to perform her work unfinished, to let it sit, to wait.

Ironically, this uncomfortable process became her favorite aspect of the program: “The way that AFO uplifts the process—that the point is not just to finish the work and get to the final showcase, it’s how you were developed and how you were cared for, and how you showcase your unfinished work along the way—I think that was just so beautiful and so important. There being a process where there’s reverence and there’s high regard for what’s unfinished, and what happens inside of you along the way, that was just really, really like Jesus.”

“Poetry is for everyone,” says Camara, “It’s for everyone, it’s for everywhere.” As Orlando’s Poet Laureate, she performed at Pop-Up Poetry’s 4th annual poetry event in Downtown Orlando, hosted by Page 15. Page 15 is a nonprofit that encourages creative writing for young people, empowering them to lift up their voices. Photo by Marquis Lee.

Within the chrysalis of Arts Fellowship Orlando, Camara finally started to feel like her identity was no longer fragmented. Once she graduated from the program, she leaped to brilliantly interweave her callings. 

Now she is a mental health therapist, creating and facilitating poetry workshops for people of all walks of life, and she’s especially passionate about bringing poetry to people of marginalized communities. Camara shares, “When we are struggling, why do we turn to film? Why do we turn to music? Why do we turn to poetry? Because we’re looking to feel seen and we’re looking to feel witnessed in our experiences.” Through these workshops, people are invited to wander the landscape of their thoughts and feelings, to channel their questions and longings into creative expression, and to share a piece of themselves with others.    

Within the chrysalis of Arts Fellowship Orlando, Camara finally started to feel like her identity was no longer fragmented.

In 2025, Camara was also named Orlando’s third Poet Laureate. As Poet Laureate of Orlando, she receives the opportunity to perform at all kinds of events—city-wide celebrations, festivals, and fundraisers. She cherishes the chance to share these spaces, these times, with people in our community who are all searching for the same things: belonging, healing, and hope.

“It means something really significant to me to be Orlando’s Poet Laureate,” says Camara, “because I feel like in the time that we’re living in right now, in this country and in the world, there’s really a need for people who are connecting people and being a storyteller for people to cross differences, and wanting to help people honor each other’s stories and show unique backgrounds. And I also feel like it’s significant for me because, if there’s anything true about this new role and poetry itself it’s that poetry allows us to savor beauty and a place to put pain at the same time, and I feel like a lot of people—I know myself included—we need that right now.”