The Black School
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Mission Statement
Located in New Orleans, The Black School (TBS) is a Black-Centered experimental art school teaching BIPoC and ally students to become agents of change in community through art & design education and programming based in radical African diasporic histories, prioritizing local community needs. Our programs and services include a paid Design Apprenticeship for BiPOC youth, Black Love Fest, Design Studio, Schoolhouse, and Garden School among other initiatives. To date, we’ve taught 550+ students in 150+ workshops, facilitated 125+ workshops, produced 4 Black Love Festivals with 4,000+ attendees, collaborated with 75+ professional artists, and partnered 75+ organizations, and trained and employed 30 design apprentices. Our work has been featured in Hyperallergic, Cultured, Garage Magazine and more.
About This Cause
TBS uses art, design, and radical Black politics to inspire collective action and self-determination. Our guiding principles are Black Love, self-determination, and healing. A Black woman led organization, our values include Black radicalism, Black feminism, Self Defense, Environmental Justice, Self Love, Prison Abolition, LGBTQIA+ Rights, Economic Justice, Health and Healing, Police Abolition, Community Building and Anti-Colonialism. These values and primary social justice areas guide our programming. TBS serves both art and community. Specifically, TBS serves the 7th Ward of New Orleans and the BIPOC creative community of New Orleans. Once a thriving community of Free Black people during the 17th and 18th centuries, the 7th Ward now faces a plethora of issues that diminish health and wellness such as high rates of gun violence, poverty, and substance abuse. About 20% of the households are led by women and over half of children live with their mother only, which is higher than the national average and New Orleans average. The median family income is $24,213. This means that 58.7% of children live in poverty, placing the community in a high risk category for poor life outcomes. TBS’s model implements radical pedagogy into education and relationship building. TBS’s paid Design Apprenticeship for youth, Community Garden, Black Love Fest, and other programming improve social and economic conditions for our community by providing both direct services as well as facilitated spaces to cultivate movement building and base building activities to augment advocacy and policy change. In practice the issues our current programming is most significantly impacting look like increasing access to politically center art and design instruction for young people, access to employment and creative sector job training for young people, and whole person development for young people via our paid Design Apprenticeship Program. In addition, we provide multigenerational access to gardening, environmental sustainability and herbal education, creation of paid teaching opportunities for local creatives, creation of regular community healing space, and finally a small but growing amount of organic, locally grown produce to our community via our free Garden School. TBS works in partnership with local, regional, and national organizations. Our primary local partners include Xavier University, ReTHINK NOLA, BeNOLA, New Orleans African American Museum, Antenna, New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans Recreation Department, and Black Teacher Griot. Our regional partnerships include Sipp Culture, Project Row Houses, and Art Papers Magazine. Our national partnerships include Scope of Work, Diasporal Solidarites Lab, The Laundromat Project, The New Museum, and The Bronx Museum of Art.