Black Humboldt
work in progress 2020 - 2025
Black Humboldt is targeting the negative racial, economical and social impacts of colonial settlerism, capitalism and the patriarchy As it disporporationaly affects melanted populations and people who identify as Black & Brown.
Black Humboldt is a Dream Maker project of The Ink People Center of The Arts, since summer 2019. | Find out more
Who we serve:
Black Humboldt directly serves the Black & Brown communities of California’s North Coast.
The Black & Brown community includes anyone who racially or culturally identifies as Black, Brown, African American, African, Afro-Latiné, Afro Caribbean or from anywhere within the African Diaspora. Black Humboldt also serves individuals that find themselves intersected with other marginalized identities like 2S/LGBTQAI+, experiencing poverty, being disabled, experiencing incarceration or not having access to higher education.
Black Humboldt is centering the lived experiences of the communities we serve to drive the direction of our programming, projects and resources.
Current Projects
Black Aesthetic Podcast.
Back to School Kits.
Juneteenth Black Business Fund.
Black Book Club.
Black Zine.
Black Business Directory.
Home Alone Project.
Current events
Monthly Black Networking Mixer
Quarterly Black Family night
Martin Luther King JR day
BH Anniversary. (April)
HCOE Equity Summit
Annual Juneteenth Celebration
The Pull Up
Programming
Black Humboldt's events and programming have always and will always house arts as a tool to transform and express culture. The arts have a long history within Black and afro culture for being a vehicle for social change, expression and healing. Live music, singing, poetry, dance and so much more, is written in our DNA and is something shared across all the many races, ethnicities and languages of Blackness, it is crucial to our foundation as an organization. Through the performing arts Black Humboldt is creating safe spaces for Artists to bare themselves but also cultural awareness, preservation and representation.
Black Liberation Month - February
Black Liberation Month is a retitling of Black History Month and will take place for the entire month of February every year. As a way to empower the Black community, we want to create a sense of liberation through events planned for and by, Black and Brown community members. This project keeps Black and Brown history, which is often left out of textbooks or mainstream curriculums available and transparent for the entire Humboldt County community. It is important for both POC and non POC members to understand black and brown history is United States’ history too. By telling truthful stories of strength and perseverance and celebrating accomplished black and brown people we are liberating the community.
Arts For Black & Brown Bodies - March & October
Arts for Black and Brown Bodies is a month-long series that explores Black and Brown bodies within art forms society doesn’t normally attribute to Black or Afro culture or community. The series works to create art and culture in non-traditional spaces in hopes to grow our presence in the art world. The series occurs for an entire month, both in October and March every year, and includes 6-12 art workshops exclusive for BIPOC community members to attend, visual art exhibitions and performance showcases. The goals of this series is to provide representation within an area that is normally lacking, create safe spaces and expose The BIPOC community of artists with safe platforms. This series can be empowering and life changing for those looking to lead a life of art creation, can be refreshing and warming for those wanting to try new things and is revitalizing to the health and well-being of the BIPOC community.
All donations received go to continue our daily operations which include all of our current projects and events and creating monetary opportunities for Black & brown community members.
Black Humboldt supports:
Local North Coast Indigenous Tribes
All Humboldt Black & Brown owned businesses
Cal Poly Humboldt’s Umoja Center
College of The Redwoods’ Multicultural Center
All Humboldt, Del Norte & Trinity local BSUs
Humboldt based non profit, Youth Arts Will Succeed
Humboldt based non profit, HC Black Music & Arts Association
Humboldt based grassroots organization, Building Black Community
BLM Global Network
The Sentencing Project
The American Civil Liberties Union
Local Black Humboldt Allies:
The Booklegger, Eureka CA
AEDC, Eureka CA
City of Eureka CA
Southside Mike’s BBQ, Eureka CA
Humboldt Naturalista , Arcata CA
Bling Brow Bar, Eureka CA
NAACP, Eureka Chapter
DJ L Boogie, Humboldt County
Humboldt Area Foundation, Humboldt County
Sistah’s Vegan, Humboldt CA
Taste of Bim, Eureka CA
Synapsis Studio, Eureka CA
Arts & Drafts, Eureka CA
Dewy’s Beauty Boutique, Eureka CA
Sander’s Grooming, Eureka CA
The Griffin, Arcata CA
The Speakeasy Hair Lounge, Arcata CA
BodyHigh Pole Studio, Arcata CA
WordHumboldt, Humboldt County
HSU: African American Center for Academic Excellence, Arcata CA
HSU: Black Student Union
Frankie's Bagels, Eureka CA
Humbrews Restaurant, Arcata CA
Outer Space, Arcata CA
The POC Group, Humboldt County
K.M Ross Photography, Arcata CA
The North Coast Journal, Humboldt County CA
The All Black Student Union: Arcata, McKinleyville and Eureka High Schools
Alpha Fitness, Eureka CA
Visual Concepts, Arcata CA
Stars Hamburgers, Arcata CA
Northtown Coffee, Arcata CA
SCRAP, Arcata CA
Heart Bead, Arcata CA
Eureka Bookstore, Eureka CA
The Tin Can Mail Man, Arcata
Humboldt Republic, Eureka CA
Bold Images, McKinleyville CA
On The Lo Swimwear, Humboldt CA
The North Coast Co op, Humboldt County
Wildberries Market Place, Arcata CA
Bluegrass Glass, McKinleyville CA
Fatbol Clothing, Arcata CA
Starbucks, Fortuna CA
Frankie's Bagels, Eureka CA
The Center, McKinleyville CA
Rotary Club of Arcata
Arcata Theater Lounge
Los Bagels
Brainwash Thrift
Arcata Main Street
North Coast Growers Alliance
Big Brother Big Sisters - Eureka
Youth Evolve Services
The North Coast SBDC
City of Arcata
Kiskanu Dispensary
Mother's Cooking Experience
Septentrio Winery
Homeboldt Apparel
Humbrews Restaurant
Humboldt Bay Social Club
Papa & Barkley Social
Movewell
The Sanctuary
2nd St Art Lab
Humboldt Herbals
Mother's Cooking Experience
The Minor Theater
The Grind Cafe
Fatbol Clothing Store
Object Heavy Music Group
Vibe Productions
Queer Humboldt
The Clarke Museum
Ink People Center of The Arts: Fiscal Sponsorship
Black Humboldt has an ongoing commitment to accessibility and person-centered approaches to program design. We work to understand individual communication strategies in order to reach each person. We have made project and programming finances a top priority to keep them free for participants and strategize using locations ADA accessible and supported by public transportation. Working along side The Ink People as our fiscal sponsor, who bring knowledge of "Trajectory" and "Disability informed Support". The Ink People is working with DreamMaker projects to plan for greater accessibility within the organizations that we umbrella. While efforts to address accessibility are continual, we acknowledge we have work to do. In 2021, we had to move out of our accessible administrative building when it was sold with little notice. Because few affordable commercial buildings were on the market, we currently rent a building that has a step at the front entrance. While we are in preparation to build a ramp for the entrance this year, we are currently offering office hours and activities at one of our community art spaces and partnering with Synapsis in order to present events at a fully accessible location. In our social media programming and online materials, we include verbal, written descriptions of images to reach people who have vision impairments. We are hiring translators to provide Spanish translation for our newsletter in order to reach Humboldt’s Latinx population. We recognize the power of art as a tool for communication and offer support to artists working in many mediums to create richer and more diverse opportunities for expression. We recognize that many underserved communities in our region are very isolated. In response, we are prioritizing mobile programming in order to engage with people and communities who often have very little access to opportunities.