We were lucky to catch up with Brent Billingsley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Brent thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful project has been “I’m Listening.” It is a project that turned into a program in the greater Cincinnati Region. Our first year was in 2022 where we got youth together with 5 police districts for the purpose of creating a 16×20 ft mural. We paired officers with youth at 5 locations and painted on 20 different canvases that was pieced together in the end. It was also made into a documentary available on the Cincyarte channel on YouTube. My personal story is not that of one whom had a good relationship with law enforcement. Then I met an officer, who I did not know was an officer at the time, and that changed my whole perspective. Officer Eddie Hawkins changed my whole mind-set because of his energy, attitude, and love for young people. Not only did we develop a friendship, but he also introduced me to his fellow officers. And I took that new attitude, ran with it, and I have no intention on looking back. Two years later, we have done the same program at schools, and multiple summer camps. We introduce youth to the positive side of officers and have them come in and engage our youth in the safe spaces we have created. We eat, laugh, love, and paint TOGETHER. And we are just getting started. I believe in that there is plenty of news about the negativity concerning law enforcement, especially in urban communities. My goal is to start raising a new voice to all that will listen that, if we can stop and “LISTEN”, things will get better.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Brent Billingsley is an artist and an empowering voice behind young, disenfranchised youth. He is also a Behavioral Health Specialist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital medical Center/Psychiatry. Other
endeavors include Independent Contracting Therapeutic Mentoring and the co-founder of 2 non-profits
geared toward the utilization of therapeutic artistic engagement and the performance arts. Brent says a
nihilistic state of being inspires him the most because the canvas must be needs repurposed and then
re-primed before the painting can begin. He graduated in 2013 from Miami University with a Bachelor’s
of Fine Arts with a concentration in Printmaking and from the University of Cincinnati in 2015 with a
Master’s in social work. This artist’s intention is to help all whom he is blessed to come in contact with
realize that they are part of something bigger than themselves and that their part matters. The goal is to
utilize art as rhetorical vernacular and encourage people to do something they have never done before,
acknowledge the exertion, forfeit maladaptive ideations and upon one’s own artistic epiphany; act on it.
Brent believes that the world can be changed through art; 1 PIECE at a TIME!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

My most rewarding aspect of being an artist is sharing my gift with others and seeing smiles develop on faces.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

After I worked at Ford Mo Company for 14 years, left. And I left for the ambiguity of whatever life had in store for me. I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do, or what I needed to do. I just knew that there was something inside of me that had to be set free and I had to leave that environment in order for that to happen. The last 14 years have been the most challenging in my life. Gettign 2 degrees while working full-time, being a father, being a business owner, being a mentor, and being a creative. Had it not been foe my Faith in God, and my desire to utilize the talents I was blessed with since birth, I may have thrown in the towel a long time ago and just went back to work. I was offered some substantial paying positions throughout this journey. But I believe that God has brought me this far, so we are going the rest of the way too.

Contact Info:

• Website: mystabee.com
• Instagram: mysta_bee
• Facebook: Brent Billingsley
• Linkedin: Brent Billingsley
• Youtube: cincyarte

Image Credits
Photos by Whitney Dixon