Create Like Your Community Depends On It

By Denya ChinQuee, Sr. Director, Audience Impact & Intelligence

“You can’t sit around and wait for somebody to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it.”

Artist and activist Faith Ringgold tells us to express ourselves like our life depends on it. Our story needs us. It can’t be written without us. It's this urgency to create that came up repeatedly in my conversation with The Smithsonian's Teddy Reeves, Bishop Gallery's Stevenson Dunn, and Paramount’s Michelle Green.

I had the privilege of moderating this panel of curators, storytellers and media diversity experts on the importance of Black cultural expression for Paramount Advertising’s Black History Month event in partnership with Givsly and Horizon Media. I knew we'd uncover hard-hitting truths with such passionate people in the fold. We delved into the power of art, identity at work, representation’s ripple effects and more.

Some memorable moments of learning that emerged from our discussion:

“I wish people had art earlier in their lives.” -Stevenson Dunn

Art has the kind of self-affirming effect that’s hard to put into words. Everyone has a moment where they remember art having a profound effect on their life, whether it’s going to the museum, watching a movie, or stumbling upon a work of art that resonates on a personal level.

At the Bishop Gallery, Dunn exhibits a diverse array of artistic expressions, from uplifting emerging talent to Harlem Renaissance luminaries. At the Smithsonian, Reeves explores digital tech’s influence in capturing and preserving Black spiritual and religious life in the Americas.

Even though Dunn’s and Reeve’s focus as art curators may differ, one thing underpins everything they do: making people feel good. They have harnessed their art to shape groundbreaking narratives and catalyze positive change within their communities. For Green too, art is a tool to express herself at work, creating deeply engaging projects that live at the intersection of culture and marketing.

“You carry the weight even when you don’t want it.” -Teddy Reeves

Representation matters. And there’s no space where its impact is felt more strongly than in art, media and entertainment: the trifecta of cultural expression. Today we’re seeing a redefining of the Black narrative on our screens and in mainstream media. But we still have a long way to go. Black artists are heavily underrepresented in major art institutions. Only 2.2% of acquisitions and 6.3% of exhibitions across 31 museums are of work by Black American artists.

“People who speak my name in rooms I’m not a part of yet have helped me.” -Michelle Green

There’s an innate power in seeing someone who looks like you in influential spaces, but one key factor that often goes overlooked is the economics of it all, and who makes it happen. Arts and culture contribute a whopping $800 billion to the U.S. economy. Specific numbers for Black art alone are harder to come by, but it further reinforces the importance of supporting the entire art ecosystem. It takes a village, from the curator and marketer to the museum docent and patron. All of us play a hand in the art we get to see.

Your identity is inextricable from the work.

Black art has long served as a vehicle for storytelling, expression and resistance. Black creatives, through various mediums, have told their stories of hope, struggle, triumph and joy that in turn shape the social and cultural landscape of society. In his own work, Dunn says he “chooses the path that will make history.”

So wherever you may be in your creative journey, this is a reminder to forge your own path. Shape your own narrative. Find your own voice. And create with urgency. Because you never know who out there will be touched by your work.

This is also the ethos that drives our Content for Change initiative, where we use the power of content and inclusive storytelling to transform how the world sees people.

Attendees wrapped the event by entering a raffle and donating to any charitable organization of their choice. All proceeds went to support Black non-profits, including the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Groundswell NYC, and The Brotherhood Sister Sol.