Black Artist Database launches new black creative database

New platform aims to link black creatives across the five continents

Black Artist Database (B.A.D.) has launched a new platform, the Black Creative Database.

With the aim of increasing visibility, work opportunities and pay equity for black creatives, the new platform aims to shine a spotlight on black creative workers globally.

A statement from B.A.D. said: “Many black workers across the creative industries found themselves in an impossible situation in the summer of 2020. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the racial justice uprisings that followed, black creatives globally faced a deluge of demands from media outlets and cultural institutions: to write think pieces, speak on panels, create content, draw illustrations, curate stories and produce films that referenced the collective pain of black trauma.

“Most of the time these requests were reactive, short notice, with swift turnaround deadlines. There was little opportunity to engage in dialogue about the type of substantive changes black creatives need to see in the creative industries that marginalise us.”

Black creatives are encouraged to submit their details to create a profile that will directly link to their online portfolios and social media. 

The Black Creative Database began as a blank spreadsheet in late 2020, inspired by the collective action and critical recentering of blackness demonstrated by by B.A.D. (then known as Black Bandcamp). That spreadsheet has since grown to become a resource directory of black creative workers in visual, digital, design, media and curational fields. Black Creative Database officially launches today as a part of the B.A.D. platform. It features a growing number of profiles of black creatives from across five continents, spanning professions like video editing, culture criticism, multidisciplinary design, radio production and content creation.

The purpose of Black Creative Database is to surface the richness of creative talent from the global Black diaspora, in pursuit of wage equity, transparency and stable employment for our extended creative communities. 

Check out the Black Creative Database here: https://blackartistdatabase.co/#/creative

Black Creative Database submission form: https://blackartistdatabase.co/#/addcreative