With 70% of BAC’s community identifying as belonging to marginalized, historically oppressed racial and ethnic groups, BAC’s commitment to advancing social and racial equity in the arts is stronger than ever. Black artists have long been instrumental in shaping Brooklyn as an epicenter of diversity and creativity. They champion Black heritage and use the transformative power of the arts to address systemic discrimination and craft equitable, justice-centered social change throughout Brooklyn.
Through our dynamic suite of programs and services, BAC invests in Black artists, creatives, cultural heritage practitioners, and entrepreneurs. In 2023, we distributed a total of $600,000 in funding to the Black and Afro-Latino creative community. We also continue to build economic prosperity in neighborhoods that lack traditional arts infrastructure and those most heavily impacted by systemic barriers such as Crown Heights, Sunset Park, Brownsville, and East New York. Last year, 35% of BAC’s regrant funds, totaling over $400,000, were allocated to Brooklyn artists to support projects in these under-resourced neighborhoods.
This Black History Month, join us in celebrating the invaluable contributions of Black artists to our beloved borough. African Peach Arts Coalition (APAC), Art and Resistance through Education (ARTE), Flex Dance Program (FDP), J. Bouey Dance Projects, Lampblack Literary Foundation, and Siren- Protectors of RainForest are just a few of the many BAC Grantees making our borough more vibrant.
African Peach Arts Coalition (APAC)
Vendor at APAC’s BazART Community Fest. Image Source: APAC website.
African Peach Arts Coalition (APAC) is a youth-led, queer-powered, Brooklyn-based collective that addressed the disproportionate economic and cultural gap in the arts sector. APAC centers equity in the arts by curating incentive-based arts education and community arts programs for underrepresented communities. APAC collaborates with, supports, develops, empowers, and serves as an ally to the underserved population of youth artists and emerging artists that work in disciplines spanning literary arts, performing arts, and visual arts.
APAC’s BazART is a unity-centered, outdoor, arts-presenting event designed to bring arts, community, and commerce in sync with celebrating, empowering humanity, and striding for justice. Through the Brooklyn Empower Fund, BAC’s financial support helped ensure that the artists involved were properly rewarded for their creative contributions.
Sainabou Njai, Founder & Director of APAC shared:
How does your work impact and empower other Black creatives in Brooklyn?
“In Brooklyn, our work aims to impact and empower Black creatives by creating a space for shared energy and collective alignment. We believe that this goes deeper than just providing a physical space for Black creatives to come together—it's about fostering an environment where their energy can be shared and transformed into a collective disruption.”
What does Black History Month mean to your organization?
“Black History Month holds great significance for our organization. We see it as an opportunity to curate an art show that celebrates, recognizes, and acknowledges our foremothers and forefathers. Through this event, we aim to empower and uplift the Black community, providing strength and inspiration that can carry us through the challenges we face throughout the year.”
How does APAC observe/celebrate Black History Month in your community?
“The primary way we observe and celebrate Black History Month in our community is by hosting an art show. This event serves as a platform to celebrate the past, present, and future of Black creatives, uniting us in a powerful display of art and creativity.”
Join APAC’s “I am Indeed, Indeed, I am" Exhibit on February 24 from 5-9pm at APAC S2 Gallery at The Box Factory.
Art and Resistance through Education (ARTE)
ARTE mural with guest artist, Kristy McCarthy.
Art and Resistance through Education (ARTE) is a grassroots community organization that amplifies the voices of young people for human rights change through the visual arts. ARTE is committed to providing a quality human rights education that informs students about the frameworks that exist to delineate and protect their rights and the rights of others. Using art, design, and technology, ARTE students develop creative projects that bring awareness to local and global human rights challenges.
BAC Local Arts Support funding supported “Youth Voices Lead,” a community training program for youth organizers and artists to strengthen their human rights knowledge and artistic tools and discover how to take action for racial justice change. For 14 weeks, young leaders from across Brooklyn, specifically Downtown Brooklyn, East Flatbush, Williamsburg, Bedford Stuyvesant, and Brownsville, came together to learn about the important issues directly impacting their communities.
J. Bouey Dance Projects
J. Bouey. Photo by Rachel Keane, 2023.
J. Bouey (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based dance artist and Brooklyn Arts Fund Grantee. J. is also the founder of “The Dance Union Podcast,” initiating the NYC Dancers COVID-19 Relief Fund and The Dance Union Town Hall For Collective Action to support the dance community through numerous world-changing events.
J.’s ongoing project, “S A T U R N: A Revelation,” is a world-building project imagining a future after we’ve abolished all systems of oppression and our responsibilities to one another when we are successful. Through immersive dance performances, films, and digital content “S A T U R N” supports our decolonization by constructing spaces for us to radically imagine healthy futures for humanity and the ecology of Earth. Join the premiere of “S A T U R N” on May 10-25 at JACK, 20 Putnam Ave, Brooklyn.
J. Bouey shared:
What does Black History Month mean to your organization?
“Celebrating Black History Month to me means appreciating how we cultivate futures. Liberation is something that our ancestors cultivated in how they imagined, fought for, died for, and won liberation so that we can imagine further liberation for the next generation. Black history is understanding that for the future generations, we are their living ancestors.”
Flex Dance Program (FDP)
Image source: FDP Instagram.
Flex Dance Program (FDP) is an arts education nonprofit that believes in the power of dance and music to bring about positive transformation for youth in difficult circumstances. FDP seeks to transform physical energy into positive non-verbal self-expression that offers an alternative to conflict.
Flex (Flexn) is a unique form of dance that originated on the streets of Brooklyn, New York in the 1990s. Flex dance is distinguished by its contortionist body movements, and its “no-rules” narrative story-telling capabilities. Because of the reactive nature of Flex, the dancer is often inspired by his immediate environment and is free to tell his or her own story, making for a very emotional performance.
FDP’s “FlexIN” and “FlexOUT” programs received funding though BAC’s Local Arts Support and Creative Equations Fund. FlexIN is an on-site program for youth in secure detention centers, foster care, and other facilities in New York. FlexOUT provides lessons to youth online and in community centers locally and across the globe.
Lampblack Literary Foundation
Lamblack Reading Series featuring Kim Coleman Foote, author of Coleman Hill. Photo by Sandia Ashley, September 2023.
Lampblack Literary Foundation, launched in 2020, is a nonprofit organization created by Black writers to support Black writers. Through its direct aid, online literary programming, and a magazine dedicated to the voices from the Black diaspora, Lampblack works to expand the reach of Black literature on the page and in the world.
With Brooklyn Arts Fund and Local Arts Support grants, the Lampblack Literary Foundation was able to launch its inaugural season of the “Lampblack Reading Series,” a six-event program in Central Brooklyn showcasing the poetry and prose of twenty established and emerging Black writers. Curated by Thierry Kehou, cofounder of Lampblack and its Director of Events & Partnerships, the series was hosted at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts. BAC funding also enabled Lampblack to host a special reading series event for the launch of “Labour,” the third volume of Lamplack’s literary magazine.
Siren- Protectors of the RainForest
Siren- Protectors of the RainForest for Anta Yemaya, BAC Global Rhythms Performing Group. Photo courtesy Artistic Director Mafor Mambo Tse.
Siren- Protectors of the RainForest is a Brooklyn-based performance group that uniquely blends educational and artistic programs that incorporate the diverse cultures and histories of Africa and the African American experience throughout the Diaspora. As the movement to blend art, history, and community has spread throughout Brooklyn with enthusiasm, Siren expanded its practice to encapsulate community dialog, culinary events, and environmental activism.
BAC is proud to support this group of arts educators sharing STEAM-based curriculum that spreads the 3 R’s (Reuse, Recycle, Reduce) of protecting the environment through African music and body movement with Brooklyn Arts and Science Elementary School students through our Global Rhythms program.