ArtBridge (AB) is a New York City nonprofit helping emerging artists transform urban spaces. The exhibitions have resulted in incredible exposure for artists while artfully reinvigorating the urban landscape. 

Since the recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement in early June, Black artists have been in high demand. Museums, art galleries, Fortune 500 corporations, local governments, and nonprofits have all rushed to embrace Black art. AB wanted to have an open and raw discussion with prominent Black artists on how those institutions engaged with Black art and artists.

AB also wanted this panel to test for future panel discussions and prove its supporters wanted these critical conversations. With nonprofit work, budget and time are always limited. I had only two weeks to promote before the event with no advertising budget. I was responsible for creating all the assets, videos, landing pages, and emails.

The panel was about the artists, their experiences, and their ideas. I wanted the design to be unfussy, straightforward, and without the distraction of color. Two colors receded and made the viewer pay attention to the artist. In contrast, one color added emphasis to the copy. It was a happy happenstance that black, white, and red were the brand colors.

The title of the discussion was abstract, which was challenging to represent, with found images. I decided the words themselves would strut on the stage when the artist images were not around. The repetition of “Amplify vs Exploit” added texture and depth to mimic the artists’ conversation on the panel. Also, the echoing acted as a visual metaphor and a dubious mantra of what Black artists encounter every day.

The landing page hosted on ABs domain in WordPress gave more details about the discussion and the artists. I recycled the content throughout the social media promotions and emails; recycling is fun! All the links lead to the Zoom sign-up registration page.

I decided to take the audio from Zoom to create audio clips of the artists’ best quotes for the post-event promotion. The audio helped the people who didn’t attend to let them hear the discussion and learn about AB and the quality conversations it intends to have.

The discussion registered 220 people! A tremendous success, considering we were hoping for 50-75. 

I conducted a post-panel survey to understand and learn what we did well and what could be improved. All the comments were positive. 63% of the responders said, “Oh YEAH!” to the question of “How likely are you to recommend an ArtBridge event to a friend or colleague?”