The St. Louis Museum celebrates its newest Romare Bearden Graduate Museum Fellows for 2021. This Post Graduate Minority Fellowship was started in 1992 with the objective to cultivate future museum professionals from historically underrepresented groups or backgrounds by advancing the knowledge, skills, and networking capabilities that enable museum careers.

Bearden Fellows receive hands-on work experience in various museum functions, including curatorial, public programming, interpretive materials, audience development, marketing, and fundraising. While specific assignments are tailored to the Museum’s needs as well as the Bearden Fellow’s skill and interests, all Fellows receive individualized mentoring and training from senior museum staff that fosters confidence building critical to entry-level museum professionals.

Shaka Myrick and Delyn Stephenson

Shaka Myrick is a Midwest native. After graduating from Lincoln College Prep High School in Kansas City, Missouri, she actively pursued the history and practice of fine art. Shaka earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She spent the next decade working and interning at Nych Art Gallery in Chicago, Illinois, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Focusing on the African diaspora, Shaka frequently travels abroad to study contemporary art culture. Following her independent research in Bahia, Salvador, Shaka completed her Master of Art History at the University of Missouri, Kansas City concentrating on West African culture and presence in Brazil. In 2020 she curated Real Black at the UMKC Gallery of Art. As the gallery’s first exhibition featuring all Black artists, Shaka successfully executed virtual and in-person programs during the global pandemic.

Delyn Stephenson is a 2017 graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in Art History & Archeology with an emphasis in Modern & Contemporary Art with a Multicultural Certificate. In 2020 she graduated from the University of Missouri St. Louis’ with a Master’s in History through the Museums, Public History, and Heritage program. While at UMSL, she interned at The Griot Museum of Black History to create Still We Thrive The Neighborhoods of Fountain Park, Lewis Place, and The Ville, an exhibit created with the Museums Public History and Heritage program. Delyn also completed an internship with St. Louis’ Contemporary Art Museum in Development and the Audience and Learning & Engagement. For the last three years, she was on staff at the National Blues Museum, working directly with the Deputy Director to reinvigorate the fundraising, programming, exhibitions, and day-to-day management.