Michael R. Speciále is an interdisciplinary artist, producer, and cultural strategist whose work explores the intersections of identity, belonging, and the search for meaning in an increasingly complex and atomized world. Through a diverse range of mediums—including theater, performance art, community organizing, and organizational design— Speciále interrogates the systems and structures that shape our individual and collective experiences, while also imagining and creating alternative possibilities for connection, care, and liberation.

At the heart of Speciále's practice is a deep commitment to storytelling as a tool for personal and social transformation. His artistic journey began at age 13 on the professional stage, where he honed his craft under the mentorship of theater visionaries like Jesse Merz and Judy Goff. These early experiences, particularly his training in Sanford Meisner's acting technique, instilled in Speciále a profound capacity for empathy and deep listening—skills that continue to inform his work today.

Drawing on his own journey as a queer person navigating the challenges of faith and self-acceptance, Speciále creates vulnerable, provocative, and often humorous works that invite audiences to confront their own assumptions and longings. From his solo performance Bottoming for Jesus, which chronicles his experiences as a gay teenage convert to the Mormon Church, to his immersive gatherings exploring the politics of shared space, Speciále's projects are both personal and broadly resonant, speaking to the universal human need for belonging and purpose.

As a producer and curator, Speciále has championed a diverse set of voices in the contemporary arts scene. His presentation and curation of artists such as Macy Rodman, SOPHIE, Sebastian Hernández, and Harmony Holiday reflects his curiosity with themes of identity performance, queer spirituality, and blurring boundaries between audience and artist. Notable projects include ASSEMBLIES at NAVEL, advised by Speciále who raised funds to incubate over 33 artist-led community research groups, and theatrical productions like Justin Elizabeth Sayre’s Lottie Platchett Took a Hatchet at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival.

Speciále's artistic vision is deeply informed by his background in organizational development, community design, and social practice. As a founding member of the experimental art space NAVEL, Speciále participated in the development of a model of "kinship practice" that emphasized radical inclusivity, shared decision-making, and the cultivation of enduring relationships across differences. This experience, coupled with his time as Assistant Director of Marketing at Lincoln Center, gave Speciále a keen understanding of how institutional structures can either enable or inhibit authentic connection and collective flourishing. He brings this insight to bear in his current role as founder and director of Family Affairs Studio, a consultancy that works with artists, cultural institutions, and other creative ventures to design more collaborative and sustainable organizational systems.

Ultimately, Speciále sees his artistic and organizational work as interconnected facets of a larger project to enact what are called "prefigurative politics"—a term coined by social scientist and film studies professor Carl Boggs and inspired by anarchist principles—the embodiment, in the here and now, of the kind of world we wish to inhabit. By creating spaces and experiences that prioritize care and mutual aid, Speciále invites participants to not only imagine but practice alternative ways of being and relating.

Speciále's practice is deeply influenced by the work of artists and theorists such as Gloria Anzuldúa, adrienne maree brown, Donna Haraway, and José Esteban Muñoz, who have explored the intersections of identity, performance, prefiguration, and power. He is in ongoing dialogue with collaborators from a wide range of fields, including performance artists Spenser Theberge and Jermaine Spivey, cultural producer Patricia Garza, queer archivists and artists Win Mixter and Chris Cruse, research artist Wyatt Coday, and critical pop star and intellectual Mandy Harris Williams. Through these relationships, Speciále situates his work within a larger ecosystem of social practice, cultural production, and scholarship.

By weaving together personal narrative, social critique, and embodied experimentation, Speciále offers a vision of radical empathy and interdependence—a way of being together that honors our differences while affirming our shared humanity. In a time of profound uncertainty and upheaval, Speciále's work serves as a source of possibility, reminding us of the transformative power of storytelling, imagination, and collective care.