TO DESIGN IS TO HAVE AN UNYIELDING FAITH IN THE POTENTIAL FOR A JUST SOCIETY. IT IS AN ACT OF INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE HOPE REQUIRING NOT ONLY AN AWARENESS OF TRUE INEQUALITY, BUT ALSO A COMPULSION TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST IT IN ITS MANY FORMS.
Bryan Lee, Principal & Design Director, Colloqate, New Orleans, LA
While COVID-19 is a new crisis, the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd last week was nothing new. This type of terror and trauma against the Black community is exactly what the National Memorial for Peace & Justice, designed by MASS Design Group and Equal Justice Initiative, laid bare when it opened just over two years ago.
To honor the life of George Floyd and acknowledge the systemic racism that has led to COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on the Black community, we encourage donations to the following five organizations.
These are organizations–in hard hit cities of Minneapolis, Chicago, New Orleans, Oakland, and St. Louis–are close to the hearts of many Design Vanguard members. They are led by five foremost creative leaders and uniquely serve the Black community, for the benefit of all people.
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Colloqate | New Orleans, LA
Established in 2017 and led by Design Vanguard member Bryan Lee, Colloqate is a multidisciplinary practice focused on building power through the design of social, civic, and cultural spaces. Its mission is to organize, advocate, and design spaces of racial, social and cultural equity.
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Creative Reaction Lab | St. Louis, MO
Established in 2014, Creative Reaction Lab was founded by Antionette Carroll in support of the uprising in nearby Ferguson following the killing of Michael Brown. The organization’s mission is to educate, train, and challenge Black and Latinx youth to become leaders designing healthy and racially equitable communities.
DONATE TO CREATIVE REACTION LAB
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Designing Justice + Designing Spaces | Oakland, CA
Established in 2015, Designing Justice + Designing Spaces was co-founded by Deanna Van Buren and Kyle Rawlins. Advocating for Restorative Justice, it works to end mass incarceration by building infrastructure that addresses its root causes: poverty, racism, unequal access to resources, and the criminal justice system itself. On Friday night, the storefront space occupied by the organization in downtown Oakland was badly vandalized.
DONATE TO DESIGNING JUSTICE + DESIGNING SPACES
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Juxtaposition Arts | Minneapolis, MN
Established in 1995, Juxtaposition Arts is a teen-staffed art and design center, gallery, retail shop, and artists’ studio space in North Minneapolis. The organization focuses on engaging and employing young urban artists in hands-on education initiatives that create pathways to self-sufficiency while actualizing creative power.
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Rebuild Foundation | Chicago, IL
Established in 2009 by artist and designer Theaster Gates, Rebuild Foundation focuses on fortifying the cultural foundations of underinvested neighborhoods and incite movements of community revitalization that are culture-based, artist-led, and neighborhood-driven. Its mission is to demonstrate the impact of innovative, ambitious, and entrepreneurial arts and cultural initiatives–informed by three core values: black people matter, black spaces matter, and black objects matter.
