BAC: What?

This section discusses broader vision of the BAC and the various programs and initiatives that the Collective has undertaken since its foundation.

Vision

Blackout Arts Collective envisions playing a leadership role in the creation of revolutionary art and the infusion of artistic contributions into the national social justice movement. Our efforts are focused on improving the social, political and economic position of people of color in the United States and abroad.

BAC understands the importance of coalition building within this movement and seeks to build bridges between different groups of artists, activists and educators interested in social change.

BAC recognizes the contributions of young people to the movement and seeks to empower youth to become more educated and involved by developing their critical thinking skills as well as their artistic talents.

BAC recognizes the unjust nature of the criminal “justice” system and seeks to change many of the policies that negatively impact people of color. BAC envisions itself working with those affected by the system and empowering them to improve their circumstances.

BAC National Program Director Piper Anderson

BAC’s mission is geared towards revolutionizing how individuals view historically disadvantaged communities of color in the United States. BAC identifies popular culture and the media as responsible for creating images that affect how we see the world. These industries perpetuate distorted and incorrect images of inner city youth, criminalizing their behavior and avoiding the social-economic factors and governmental policy agendas that deny them access to resources and self-sufficiency.
BAC bases their vision on using the arts as a powerful tool in the social justice movement. Piper explains, “We may disagree on an intellectual level but the arts allow us to connect with people from the heart, to talk about our experiences, to cultivate a universal language, to be creative, and to allow people the opportunity to express their vision and solutions.” These understandings of how society can be improved stem from what Piper calls a lived expertise. “The way I see it, a lot of these so called experts who are responsible for writing these policies, writing up all the laws that govern our lives, aren’t in touch with our experiences, don’t represent our communities and are not derived from our experience,” says Piper. BAC therefore advocates and works towards creating a dialogue around public policies, politics, and government.

Guiding Principles

As an arts collective committed to justice, BAC:

• Provides opportunities for artists of color to express themselves freely, strengthen their artistic abilities, enhance their presentations and collaborate with other artists.

• Motivates and inspires people of color to learn about the social and political forces affecting them and to become actively involved in positively influencing these forces.

• Recognizes the oppressive nature of the criminal justice system in the United States and works to create a nationwide movement in opposition to its structure and procedures.

• Conducts interactive programs to help young people discover their leadership skills and artistic talents and use these abilities to express themselves culturally, socially and/or politically.

• Believes in developing effective community awareness campaigns led by young people and inspires these young people to become active in the positive transformation of their communities and in the larger social justice movement.

• Maintains a diverse membership, which is representative of the communities it serves, and works to encourage people of different backgrounds to share their experiences

• BAC's membership appoints administrators and committee-chairs based on a democratic system and maintains a system of accountability, while empowering newer and younger members with autonomy.

• Maintains a transparent internal structure with open communication, shared information, and a ‘collective’ decision-making process that values the voices and visions of all members in the hope of building consensus. (When progress is impeded and consensus is not possible, BAC does utilize a formal voting system.)

Arts-Based Advocacy Model

Over the last couple of years, BAC has been taking a critical look at its Lyrics on Lockdown tour and worked towards creating a model to “translate art into real action,” as Piper puts it. As a result, BAC designed the following “Arts-Based Advocacy Model,” which is comprised of three steps.
Step one is using the arts to transform criminalizing perceptions of people of color. Unfortunately mainstream images produced by the media and popular culture promote certain perceptions about communities that are perpetuated by society and are used to justify budget cuts to valuable programs and youth imprisonment. Piper explains that this is the first step of BAC’s advocacy model because these images not only affect how society’s institutions treat low-income communities of color but they negatively influence how these communities view themselves. That is, “criminalizing media portrayals affect how the older folks relate to young people and how young women relate to young men.” BAC breaks down these images through fostering artwork and dialogue.
If we know that these images are used to justify public policies, according to BAC’s advocacy model, step two is geared at finding solutions to change both the criminalizing perceptions of people of color and changing the governmental policies that are used to punish the poor. Piper explains that, “it’s been documented how media sensationalism leads to public policy that is bad for our communities. If there’s a case of some young person shooting in school then all of a sudden there’s a new law that puts more cops in public schools when really, that’s not the solution at all.” BAC looks at solutions that help support folks. The organization uses political education to help inspire creative alternatives.
In fact, Piper explains that there have been documented ways in which the arts have been used to affect change all over the world. Theater of the oppressed or Legislative Theater has been used in places like Canada, Brazil and all over Europe to help come up with policy alternatives. Piper remarks, “we use theater of the oppressed to create a space where people can engage creatively around societal and social justice issues like the criminal justice system, political education system, disenfranchisement.”
Step three is coalition building with policy organizing groups that are advocating for changes in public policy making and budgetary prioritizing.

Financial Sustainability

As a non-profit organization, BAC does not receive any government funding. BAC-NY receives all of its funding from grants awarded by several different foundations. Piper admits that the organization is, “trying to get away from that model because it’s not very sustainable.” Much time is spent writing grant proposals and competing for monies with other non-profit organizations. BAC-NY is currently working with financial consultants to formulate a business plan that will allow BAC to become fiscally independent and sustainable.