In honor of Black History Month, we’ve created a list of resources to support Black creatives in various industries including Fashion, Photography, Film, etc. Check them out below!
(BAIA) is a multifaceted arts company based in Columbus Georgia. Since 2010 our mission has been to document, preserve and promote the contributions of the African American arts community. In the last 10 years BAIA has generated thousands of hours of free original content and educational tools. Conducted member workshops, profiles on artists, collectors and industry professionals as well as produced fine art shows in major markets that were free and open to the public. We have also worked with organizations to help them raise money from art sales, exhibitions and programming.
We are is a free and public self-submission Black filmmaker database and job submission hub. Our members range from a kid straight out of school looking to start his career, to Emmy-Award winning Hair Stylists, and DPs. Black in Film is an open-collaboration platform designed to get more Black People hired in the film and television industry. We are funded by donations and staffed by volunteers. Founded by Colum Alum, Ramone Hulet.
A list of professionals across various industries that are open to mentorship.
To represent and secure the advancement of Black individuals in the fashion and beauty industry. We envision workforces where Black people are represented and amplified at every level, holding jobs in both C-suite and junior-level positions, and can work alongside allies to create diverse spaces that directly reflect what the world actually looks like at large.
To be clear, we want to encourage people in the industry to rise to the occasion, not just be called out so that we can see sustained, long-term change.
Blacks Who Design highlights all of the inspiring Black designers in the industry. The goal is to inspire new designers, encourage people to diversify their feeds, and discover amazing individuals to join your team.
Through honest dialogue via social conversations and workshops, the platform seeks to ensure that more Black women are empowered to make the industry as colorful as it ought to be.
National Association of Black Journalists
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides innovative, quality programs and services to its members. The organization advocates on behalf of Black journalists and media professionals in the U.S. and worldwide. NABJ’s membership is more than 4,000 strong and includes emerging journalists, professional journalists, student journalists, journalism educators and media professionals of all kinds.
Sisters in Cinema was founded in 1997 as an online resource for and about African American women media makers. Today we are a Chicago based 501(c)3 non-profit with an inclusive mission to center and celebrate Black girls, women, and gender non-conforming media makers, providing programs designed to educate, raise visibility, and support and serve our communities.
We envision a world where all Black girls, women and gender non-conforming media makers and storytellers have equal opportunities to create and thrive.
6D Networktainment is a nonprofit artist development organization in Chicago. It was established to assist Chicago emerging music artists and industry professionals in their careers by our three objectives:
1. Sharing and creating networking opportunities
2. Educating artists on how to navigate through the music industry
3. Bridging the gap between Chicago’s top music professionals and those emerging
Founded by Colum Alum, Shaunda Brooks-Green.
Additional Lists of Resources:
BIPOC Resources for Creatives – https://www.shillingtoneducation.com/blog/bipoc-resources-creatives/
https://www.wgfoundation.org/organizations-supporting-black-creatives
Books:
Creative Against All Odds: Some Good Advice for Black Creatives
Using and first-person narration, the author draws an intimate portrait of life as black designer struggling to land a job in a very white creative industry, Michael, who possessed all the talent didn’t have the connections to even land a job after applying to 128 companies. Rather get down about it he would go own to start his own agency, and that eventually won over the industry success.
This book surveys the work of a new generation of Black artists, and also features the voices of a diverse group of curators who are on the cutting edge of contemporary art. As mission-driven collectors, Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi have championed emerging artists of African descent through museum loans and institutional support. But there has never been an opportunity to consider their acclaimed collection as a whole until now.
Among Others: Blackness at MoMA
Among Others features nearly 200 works in the Museum’s collection by 132 black artists from around the world, as well as a selection of works by nonblack artists dealing with race and race-related subjects. Each work is discussed in a short text, commissioned for this volume. The contributing authors include MoMA curators and an array of scholars, curators, and artists who are among the strongest voices in current research on art and cultural difference.
The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion, curator and critic Antwaun Sargent addresses a radical transformation taking place in fashion and art today. The presentation of black figures and black runway and cover models in the media and art has been one marker of increasingly inclusive fashion and art communities. More critically, however, the contemporary visual vocabulary around beauty and the body has been reinfused with new vitality and substance thanks to an increase in powerful images authored by an international community of black photographers.
Podcasts:
Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. We explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between.
An animation podcast to educate, inform and inspire black artists pursuing careers in animation. Hosted by Breana Williams and Waymond Singleton.
Mogul is a show about hip hop’s most iconic moments, told by the people who lived them.
A podcast to showcase black creatives and how we use our talents for the culture.
Learning your history makes you – and your people – stronger. As Black people, we know we’re left out of the history books. That the media images are skewed. That we need access to experts, information and ideas so we can advance our people.
Black History Year connects you to the history, thinkers, and activists that are left out of the mainstream conversations. You may not agree with everything you hear, but we’re always working toward one goal: uniting for the best interest of Black people worldwide.
