LICITY COLLINS
2026 SOZO FELLOW
COMPOSER / MUSICIAN / MULTIDIMENSIONAL ARTIST
PORTLAND, OR
Licity Collins is a fearless, multidimensional artist whose work defies genre.
Described on NPR as “Courageous. Writing and singing full-frontal,” her music invites audiences to confront fear and embrace vulnerability. Embracing a wide range of genres, from classical chamber music, jazzy instrumentals, songs with folk intimacy and rock energy, and personal spoken prose, Licity’s music has been praised for its emotional depth and transformative power. Licity’s visionary approach to music is deeply collaborative, boundary-pushing, and inventive.
Licity's ensemble, SynchroLicity Collective is a fluid multi-genre collection of musicians based around the world who collaborate with Licity on all forms of her music. Combining sounds from classical, early music, folk, and rock with a pursuit of innovation, SynchroLicity Collective practices a deep care for each other and a reverence for nature.
Licity recently received a $74,000 “Creative Heights” grant from Oregon Community Foundation for her debut opera, One Death in Seven Doorways, a genre-pushing spoken-sung, collaboratively-composed exploration of death and grief which will premiere in October 2027.
Recent awards also include: 2025 Friends of IFCC grant, 2025 RACC grant, 2024 Artist Facilitator Residency from the IFCC/Portland Parks, 2024 commission for the music for the North Pole Studio Gala. Licity served on the BRAVO Committee of the Ojai New Classical Music Festival from 2020-22. From 2024-26 she served as the inaugural Music Fellow at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology.
Previous to making music, Licity’s trailblazing conceptual art earned global recognition, inclusion in art history books, features on NPR, and an award for advancing conversations on bigotry and human rights. Licity co-founded Portland’s rebel defunkt theatre company, launched the Women’s Prison Theatre Project, and was a founding board member of Disjecta Arts (Oregon Contemporary). Licity also composes Flow State music to balance our nervous systems in an increasingly challenging world.
