Engaging & Supporting Artists Whose Creative Practices Heal Communities and Save Lives
Artist As First Responder Team in front of AfroPortals at Liberation Park, Oakland
As a part of our Cultural Anchors Project we met with Artist As First Responder. Artist As First Responder (AAFR) is a 4-point philanthropic and interactive arts platform that acknowledges, engages, and financially supports Black, Indigenous, and other Artists of Color whose creative practices heal communities and save lives.
AfroPortals in Liberation Park, Oakland, CA
Through a regenerative tiered structure the AfroPortals Project Space & Archive (AfroPortals) fosters resiliency and builds power in communities deeply affected by racialized trauma and state-sanctioned violence by supporting the current cultural environment with the physical presence of a resource portal.
This interdisciplinary site-specific prototype is trauma-and-joy-informed, and centers culturally resuscitative efforts led by Black artists, curators, archivists, culture-keepers and others whose creative labor saves lives. AfroPortals anchors our vision of a just community by creating an environment where BIPOC arts laborers and educators are protected, honored and fully invested in.
Engaging the intersections of art, identity and activism around the world! The AfroPortals Project Space & Archive is proud to host a partnership with Shared_Studios to bring together communities around the globe for transformative conversations as if in the same room. Housed alongside AfroPortals, Shared_Studios explores the power of art, arts activism, its influence across the continent and throughout the Black African Diaspora.
Artist As First Responder team reading BLANANT Zine
Meet The Collective
(1) Ashara Ekundayo is a Black feminist independent curator, artist, cultural theologian, creative industries entrepreneur and organizer working internationally across cultural, spiritual, civic, and social innovation spaces. Through her company AECreative Consulting Partners she places artists and cultural production as essential in equitable design practices, real estate development, and movement-building. Her intersectional worldview offers an Afrofuturist framework to the public sector that centers the lives, traditions, and expertise of Black womxn of the African Diaspora. She sits on the Advisory Boards of the Global Fund for Women “Artist Changemaker Program,” San Francisco MoMA SECA Committee, and the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. In 2019 she founded and currently stewards Artist As First Responder, an organization and 6-point philanthropic, interactive arts platform that reifies artists whose practices heal communities and save lives. She also serves as a forum curator at the Museum of The African Diaspora, is Co-Founder of Black [Space] Residency, and is the Cultural Strategist for Chef Bryant Terry’s 4Color Books, an imprint of Ten Speed Press. www.Ashara.io
(2) From an early age Cavem has had a deep connection to environmental activism and food justice. Raised in Denver’s Five Points district, often referred to as the Harlem of the West, his interest for gardening and hip hop helped him resist the snares of gang lifestyle. Becoming vegan at age 14, he said he felt a calling to speak about these issues in his songs, “especially since most of the neighborhoods considered food deserts were people of color.” His 2007 debut single “Wheatgrass” with rapper Stic.Man of Dead Prez hit top ten on the charts in Spain and introduced him to the public as an OG (Organic Gardener). It led to his 2010 debut album The Teacher’s Lounge, followed by 2012’s The Produce Section, which featured collaborations with Speech from Arrested Development, Drummi Zeb from The Wailers, and Sa-Roc. Part album, part curriculum, The Produce Section offered lessons on organic gardening, plant-based recipes and alternate uses of energy. Since then Cavem has traveled the world as both a performing artist and an educator. He’s shared the stage with Nick Jonas, Public Enemy, 2 Chains, Questlove, Wyclef Jean, among others. Offstage he’s involved with numerous organizations and projects dedicated to promoting wellness, eating healthy and environmental awareness.
(3) NiQueen Jones is on a mission to inspire and transform lives through art, education, and an unwavering commitment to positive change. A dynamic and passionate Oakland-based multidisciplinary artist with a versatile skill set, she masterfully traverses realms from visual art, creative writing, and photojournalism, to music. For over 20 years she has been a teacher and hip-hop historian who intersects social justice, cultural heritage preservation, youth empowerment, and mindfulness. NiQueen is currently a candidate for an MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship, a 2024 AfroUrban Society Lit From the Black Fellow, and an Emerging Artist Fellow with YouthSpeaks in collaboration with the California Arts Council.
(4) Christian Walker is a Creative Director whose professional arts practice embodies a range of roles including fashion designer, model, image consultant, campaign stylist, photographer, and social entrepreneur. He is the owner of STUDIOS, a fashion and lifestyle brand based in Oakland, CA. Christian designs and produces a myriad of outward-facing programming in his role and is the visionary and steward of the “Men’s Wellness Fellowship” - a monthly collaboration with the Sol Affirmations organization and motivational speaker Karega Bailey. The forum invites men of color to convene for a meal and roundtable discussion on vulnerability, safety, and daily wellness practices.
