Call for Solidarity for Black Lives
Recently, a friend of mine started an initiative to help build support for people of color, their businesses, their institutions, and their culture. I stand with them and ask that you also contribute what you can to the effort. As a black bi business owner advocating for marginalized communities, I have been seeing more of the intersectionality of the issues groups of people of facing. Although I refuse to ever compare them, I WILL say that they are all relatable to a degree and worthy to be heard and accommodated. However, we must do this together. We must ask questions, listen, share our stories and truths but also look at the facts and how they are recorded.
To learn more of the initiative, click on the link below. For your convenience, I have copied the text, which was drafted by Charlotte-based curator and artist, Jessica Gaynelle-Moss.
NORTH CAROLINA BLACK ARTISTS FOR LIBERATION
IS A COLLECTIVE OF BLACK ARTISTS AND ARTS WORKERS
THROUGHOUT THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The signed North Carolina-based working and originating Black makers, performers, and artists are committed to building an equitable arts and cultural sector. It is our labor, dollars, sweat equity, and culture that make both burgeoning and prestigious North Carolina organizations culturally viable. As educators, volunteers, artists, and essential workers, we recognize that the moment for systemic change is now.
The history of predominantly white-led institutions benefiting from the disenfranchisement of the Black artist and community is well documented. From slavery to Jim Crow, to post Civil Rights era, to today, Black artists have been continuously excluded from the canon, been wrongly categorized, and historically disregarded as obvious by the egregious lack of Black staff, leadership, and representation at cultural institutions across the nation.
A RENDERING OF REVERSAL:
1. Leverage Your Power, Influence, And Platform Via Structured Action To Ascertain Viable And Sustainable Support To Black Communities, Black Entrepreneurship, And Black Artistry.
Incorporate racial equity into your selection of vendors, consultants and other providers (catering, event planning, photographers, web and content development) and set internal goals to increase your use of diverse vendors
Utilize paid internships and partnerships with colleges and universities to create pathways for Black students to enter professional circles
Contribute to The NC Black Artists for Liberation Project. This funding will support an exhibition, provide honorariums for participating artists, a curatorial fee, space rental of a Black-owned and operated space, materials and supplies for artists, shipping, insurance and other exhibition-related expenses and incidentals. Our GoFundMe
2. Ensure Conducive Environments For Black Artists And Patrons By Identifying, Examining, Deconstructing, And Eradicating Existing Racist Policies And Processes Buried In The Fabric Of Your Institution.
Provide complimentary admission for individuals, schools, businesses and organizations that identify as Black Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC) or BIPOC-led organizations.
Insist that your non-Black staff undergo racial sensitivity training and social justice workshops led by Black consultants and/or Black organizations.
commit to ensuring that your programs feature diverse speakers and presenters, reflect voices of the local community, and offer programming that more directly addresses systemic racism, inequitable power and the liberation of Black people.
3. Honor And Respect The Black Creative By Awarding Voice, Visibility, Acknowledgment, And Compensation That Commensurates With Their White Male Counterparts.
Material investment in increasing Black leadership in your organization by recruiting more Black board members, senior leadership, curators, and staff beyond tokenism with competitive wages, clearly articulated goals and timelines for equitable pay.
Invite Black artists and makers to participate on your organization’s board ensuring that artists are included at every stage of the decision-making process.
If your institution houses an art collection, demonstrate your commitment to the conservation, contextualization, and preservation of Black art by increasing the representation of acquired work by Black artists.
We recognize that the transformation of our field and organizations is urgent and is also an ongoing long-term process and commitment. Your commitment to the lifelong work of dismantling racist paradigms, systems and structures won’t happen overnight. Because of this, we are interested in implementing accountability measures for all organizations.
You, your organization and your colleagues can contribute to The NC Black Artists for Liberation Project by making a donation here. But your investment must go beyond your cash donation.
It is your organization’s responsibility to design, develop and enact a clearly articulated racial equity plan (based on your capacity, size and funding) with measurable goals in the areas of hiring, organizational culture, leadership and organizational transparency over the next six months. If you are feeling lost and don’t know where to begin, consider hiring a BIPOC consultant to assist with the development of a strategic plan.
Complacency Is Just As Violent As Silence. If In 6 Months Your Organization Stands Without A Plan For Action, We Will:
Alert your high level donors, both individuals and large corporations, of your inadequacy.
Ask your board members to divest from your organization and instead focus their efforts towards individuals, organizations, and spaces that are actively doing the work to dismantle racism..
Flag specific racist policies or procedures that are inherently racist at your specific organization.
Flag specific racist policies or procedures that are inherently racist at your specific organization.
Conversely, organizations that are taking effective measures to end the inherently racist policies and procedures embedded in our field will be publicly honored and promoted.
While we understand that culture alone cannot fix systemic racism, culture is strongly connected to racism’s material effects and the violence used against us as Black artists and makers. This is your opportunity to really be the change that we need to see.
You can sign by clicking here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7-fneUt4q0WRGNfVx3fE5B0iosyDKhEuF4SrmhV-krnI6jw/viewform