Hello! I am Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr., a black, non-binary creative practicing in an American context.

Majority of the work I am doing at the moment involves direct collaborations with young people by way of interweaving programming into and between public schools to cultivate confidence and expand the perspective of young people’s minds in order to help close the opportunity gap for young people, with an emphasis on BIPOC youth.

Imagination Academy is an artist project that organizes and facilitates opportunities for young people to learn how to express as their best selves. Across the various projects done at Imagination Academy young people exercise creative agency which is an investment in teaching youth how to guide the future of our societies.

The Afro Contemporary Art Class (ACAC) is an artist project that I teach at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in North East Portland. The mission of the ACAC is to help young people of African descent to learn more about the histories and contemporary contexts that shape their lives, culture, and social realities. These ideas are explored through the study of contemporary artists and creatives as a conduit to—and a lens for—thinking through a range of experiences related to the African diaspora. The investigations begin with presenting an artist's work to the class, teasing out the underlying contexts in the work, and then learning about the people, events, and outcomes surrounding those contexts. Then we engage in discussion, the reproduction of artworks, and embodiment of activities related to the various courses of study.

Currently majority of donated funds will go directly to paying Afro Artists and creatives to engage with the Afro Contemporary Art Class Students directly.

I also work in close contact with currently and formerly incarcerated men. Much of that work can be seen on my website.

Currently I'm collaborating with artist and friend Blue to build an exhibition space called Gallery Blue (in reference to the prison blues inmates must wear) at a newly renovated Department of Justice parole office in SE Portland Oregon that exhibits the artwork of currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. The design of the frame will be handmade out of reclaimed wood to symbolize the reclamation of self worth that the featured artist is going through. Currently this project is funded enough to produce 20 frames and pay up to 40 artists to participate. The future of this project will depend on independent funding.

I'm also working with Armon Poostapasand, Queaz Otti, Joseph Rosenburger, and Willford Johnson (aka Will Power) on a prison radio project called Tin Can Phone. This project has been in a holding pattern due to attempts to use content that was recorded in the local minimum security prison in North Portland. However majority of the collaborators on this project have since been released, and soon we will be recording new content for broadcast on KBOO Community Radio. Currently this project has support from Oregon Humanities but will need require independent funding to continue.

My intention is to begin funding my practice at large so that I can rely on the stability offered in this format to offset labor on these and other projects.

As mentioned the first $1,000 raised will go directly to paying Black Artists to visit the Afro Contemporary Art Class.

Looking forward to building a better society in collaboration with and support from you. 🧡