Who We Are

COMMA (Community Organizing & Multidisciplinary Mentorship Through the Arts) is a Black-led, arts-based community organization grounded in cultural healing, narrative change, and systemic equity. We are educators, teaching artists, poets, organizers, and community builders committed to dismantling racial inequity through accessible, culturally relevant creative programming.

Founded in Santa Barbara County, COMMA grew out of a community need: culturally grounded, healing-centered spaces where youth and adults can create, be heard, and be supported. Since our founding, we have partnered with schools, community centers, arts organizations, and local leaders to bring storytelling, mentorship, and transformative arts education to diverse communities.

What We Do

Through workshops, residencies, mentorship programs, performances, and community cultural events, we help young people and adults:

explore identity, history, and resilience
improve academic outcomes for students in literacy and reading
develop artistic and leadership skills
build emotional wellness and creative agency
strengthen community connections
participate in civic and cultural life
challenge and shift systemic narratives that cause harm

Why We Do It

Disparities in education, arts access, mental health, and community representation have real impacts on the well-being of Santa Barbara’s historically marginalized communities. COMMA exists to disrupt these inequities and create community-driven systems of cultural safety, joy, quality education, and opportunity.

Meet The Founders

Ademola Oyewole-Davis is a Brooklyn-born artist, educator, and activist whose work spans music, poetry, and social change. Performing since the age of eight, he’s toured nationally and is currently working on a second album with his father, Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, alongside his debut solo project, Lib(er)ation. With over seven years of teaching experience—including with Urban Word NYC—Ademola cultivates conscious, creative learning spaces rooted in justice. He also consults on education and DEI strategy, recently delivering the MLK Day keynote at Cate School and leading artistic workshops across the country.

Tayllor Oyewole-Davis is an internationally recognized poet, educator, and social impact strategist committed to arts, equity, and community transformation. She is the Founder of Sisterhood(verb), Inc., where she develops DEIB training, cultural content, and strategic programming for marginalized communities. Her expertise spans curriculum design, public speaking, and community-centered consulting. A former Artist-in-Residence at The Riviera Ridge School and Teaching Artist with Turnaround Arts, Tayllor has led arts-integrated education with an emphasis on social-emotional growth. She’s presented at national conferences like NAIS and the Mount Holyoke College Women of Color Trailblazers Leadership Conference. Her poetry, which explores identity and justice, has been showcased globally in anthologies and galleries.

Together, Ademola and Tayllor use their talents to inspire, educate, and build lasting change through performance, education, and community-led initiatives.

What The Founders Are Working On

SBCC Poetry Workshop Series

Art is a MOVEMENT, and YOU ARE invited!

Tayllor and Ade Oyewole-Davis are happy to partner with SBCC Umoja Village to facilitate a bi-weekly poetry workshop and a monthly showcase series curated for SBCC poets and high schoolers of all levels to share their work and redefine and reconnect with themselves as artists.

Storytelling Workshop (Lompoc)

Lompoc Theatre Project is excited to announce a brand new six-week storytelling and poetry workshop for adults, “Telling Our Stories: A Storytelling and Poetry Workshop,” led by renowned artists and community advocates Tayllor and Ademola Oyewole-Davis.

The workshop consists of six 90-minute sessions taking place on select Sunday afternoons beginning September 28. Throughout the six weeks, participants will learn techniques for writing and performance; connect with multicultural mentors; discover their unique voice; and build confidence through creative expression. Once their stories are completed, each participant will be invited to present their work or have a professional actor read on their behalf at a special community performance on Sunday, November 9.

The idea for this workshop was brought to the Lompoc Theatre Project by board member and Cabrillo High School teacher Robert Morey, who has a special passion for sharing the arts and culture with adults—especially seniors—in the Lompoc Valley.

CAW 2025 Residency - Sorytelling Is Our Revolution

Tayllor and Ademola Oyewole-Davis, artists and poets in the 2025-26 Community Arts Residency, are hosting and curating a poetic experience that celebrates all our stories and connects us as a community.

Two FREE poetry workshops a month, starting in December, at the Community Arts Workshop
Workshops are open to all (18+ years). Bring something to write with and on! Refreshments are provided.
A safe community space for members to share their stories and write about them through poetry: we will support members throughout the writing, editing, and performance process, inviting them to participate in the exhibition in March 2026.