Overview
BLACC is intended as an institution by and for Black people. BLACC is built to combat the lack of Black representation in the museum and preservation industries in the United States.
According to data from the Mellon Foundation, only 12% of museum professionals in the United States are Black. Of that 12%, only around 4% are curators and conservators. According to the A*CENSUS II All Archivists Survey, only 4% of archivists in archival sectors are Black.
Many Black stories are going untold, unpreserved, or being misrepresented. When it comes to how and when these stories are told, we are not in the room when important decisions are made. Our work contributes to a sustainable and resilient arts ecosystem by redefining preservation as a community practice rather than a specialized profession. Through exhibitions, public programs, fellowships, and residencies, we create pathways for artists and community members to participate directly in archival work, documentation, and storytelling. From 2021–2025, BLACC directly commissioned and paid 87 visual and performing artists, ensuring that preservation work is tied to economic support for culture bearers. This approach builds local capacity and ensures that Black history remains accessible, living, and relevant. BLACC doesn’t just save history—it shifts who gets to define it.
We work primarily with Black artists, activists, and community members whose histories are often erased, misrepresented, or excluded from formal archives. BLACC’s role within broader change efforts is to model what ethical, community-first preservation looks like. We create space for communities to control the narrative of their own history and build the skills, tools, and confidence to steward their cultural memory on their own terms.
Goals
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Digitize and establish the Memorialize the Movement Archive as the basis of our programming with BLACC.
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Decolonizing museum and library studies, curatorial studies, and archival practices by providing a space where Black students can learn from a Black institution that houses a Black archive.
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Creating a fellowship program for college-age Black youth to learn valuable skills in archiving, curation, and conservation informed by cultural practices and lived experiences.
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Fostering the growth of new artists by providing space and funding in the form of an artist residency for them to create new works that will work hand in hand with our fellows in training.
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Provide both artists and fellows with meaningful archival experiences.
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Establish BLACC as a National Hub for Black Protest Archiving and Memory Work.
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Vision
Across five years, we have produced 11 exhibitions, dozens of public programs, and developed practical tools, workshops, and public learning spaces that make archival practice accessible beyond traditional institutions, inviting artists, activists, and community members into the work of preservation, storytelling, and memory stewardship while modeling community-led approaches to cultural memory.
BLACC’s long-term vision is a world where Black cultural memory is preserved, interpreted, and stewarded by the very communities who create it. We are working toward an arts ecosystem where artists, activists, and cultural workers are not only recognized as culture bearers, but are equipped with the tools and agency to safeguard their own histories outside of extractive institutional systems.