Black Table Arts Works to Build a Better Future

Late last year, Big Cartel supported Black Table Arts as part of our ongoing commitment to the Black community and anti-racism efforts. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Black Table Arts is a community driven arts cooperative. Complete with a multifunctional space, they offer a bookstore, workspace, and performance space, offering these resources as they recognize artists as change makers towards the liberation of all people.

They offer an inclusive place to learn and get inspired together. We were drawn to their use of art and creative works toward building Black community and better Black futures, as they like to say.

Their co-op structure lends itself to an inclusive organization, empowering its members to work together and share ownership over the business and its outcomes. But it’s also important to recognize the emotional labor that takes place at an organization like Black Table Arts. It was last year in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder that we found ourselves searching for the helpers, as Mr. Rogers liked to say, and Black Table Arts showed up on our radar as an organization of helpers.

To support an organization like Black Table Arts, consider a donation or buying some merch, but also follow their lead in recognizing how much community matters, and how making space and connecting with others through stories and art and work can be a salve in difficult times and a step toward those better Black futures.

Article header image created by illustrator Nicole Medina.