Osyrus Bolly is an artist/activist who combines his passion for the arts and social justice to create his own platform framed as Liberation Arts. In 2018 he released his hip hop single “Happy Black Girl” an ode to black women with natural hair and was awarded the ML Magazine 2018 Community Outreach Award. In 2018-2019 he taught special interest spoken word classes at University of Arkansas Little Rock with Charles W. Donaldson Scholars Academy program. In 2019 Bolly worked across Arkansas to engage communities around youth advocacy, voter engagement, social justice, racial equity, education and criminal justice reform. Alongside Dawn Jeffrey with Seeds of Liberation and partnering with Arkansas Citizens First Congress & ACLU of Arkansas they were able to complete the #KnowYourRights Tour in Arkansas, helping to engage hundreds of Arkansans about the rights of citizens through interactive discussions with lawyers, artistic expression and literature. In 2019 he was the Activist Award recipient at the Black Empowerment Awards. In 2020 he was a teaching artist for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s HEARD Project and became an organizer for the Little Rock Freedom Fund, Little Rock Freedom Fund was created for the people by the people. The fund works to support activists, organizers, and protestors in Arkansas who are working to educate, organize, and activate the people. On election day November 3, 2020 Bolly released a new single entitled “What’s at Stake”, a song that promotes voter education, civic engagement and encouraging marginalized communities to get involved in understanding the importance of public policy/advocacy. In 2022 Bolly was recognized with Community Change’s Emerging Change Champion Award for his advocacy and activism work in Arkansas.
Osyrus Bolly is currently the Racial Equity & Social Justice Coordinator for the Arkansas Public Policy Panel.