BlackSpace shifts culture in community development. Period. ✨
🎊 For ten years, we’ve been a platform for culture-first community development. Creating tools, connections, capacity, and capital that advance place-based projects and care for people in our neighborhoods.
⏳ For ten days, October 22 - 31, we’re commemorating the October date that our founders’ first met!
💝 Will you set up a recurring monthly gift in an increment of ten ($10, $50, or $100 per month) in their honor or to support BlackSpace’s long term future?
‼️Especially as Black spaces are closing... and our cities and spaces are under attack — right now.
🖤 One way to take immediate action is to invest in us! A sustaining monthly gift helps ensure BlackSpace continues 👏🏽 doing 👏🏽 the 👏🏽 work to prioritize the people, culture, and histories in place today. Link in bio.
🌃 Spatial justice is possible! There is so much opportunity for change throughout public spaces in the 1,036 majority-Black zip codes in the U.S. by Black urbanist practitioners ready to lead projects in public space.
✊🏾✊🏿✊🏽Follow us to learn more about OUR NEW INITIATIVE supporting Black urbanist practices!
#SpatialJustice #BlackUrbanists #CommunityDesign #Urbanism #Entrepreneurship #Urbanplanning #Architecture #PublicSpaces #BlackSpace
What a night 🚀
Kinfolx Imagining Neighborhoods: Pitch Night brought the energy.
✨ 100+ people in the room
✨ 300+ votes for People’s Choice
✨ 8 Bold entrepreneurs reimagining public space
Huge thank you to all the founders who took the stage and shared their vision for our neighborhoods.
And congratulations to our winners:
🏆 1st Place: @open_designco
🏆 2nd Place: @bembrooklyn
🌟 People’s Choice: @wearegood.co
We’re proud to support entrepreneurs shaping culture, community, and the future of our public spaces. This is what the program is all about.
Follow the Cohort & Stay Connected:
@bembrooklyn@wearegood.co@iqland.ai@sophoniemjoseph@open_designco@rokh.co@thescrd_@ubuntuplanning
Big s/o and lots of love to our host Brittany Bellinger, our keynote @germane.barnes , and our phenomenal judges: Majora Carter @boogiedowngrind + @bronxlandia , Fitgi Saint-Louis @fitgisaintlouis , Calvin T. Brown @nycsmallbiz , Dara Kagan @amalgamated_bank 🎉 AND to our co-presenters and hosts @bricbrooklyn 💫
Stay connected to BlackSpace, Studio KIN, future events, and opportunities to plug in via our newsletter (link in bio)
The imagination and work doesn’t stop at one night. Let’s keep building.
🎥 by Remi Amole, Contact Lens Productions
What actually happens at Pitch Night?
Here’s the flow:
✨ 8 bold founders.
⏱ 5-minute live pitches.
🏆 $15,000 in total awards.
⭐ A People’s Choice winner decided by YOU (in-person + livestream).
Expect energy. Expect clarity. Expect vision.
We’re gathering entrepreneurs, creatives, investors, and community leaders for one powerful night of ideas and opportunity.
🎟 Tickets in bio and livestream link available with registration.
#PitchNight #Entrepreneurship #BuildInPublic
✨ KEYNOTE + FULL NIGHT LINEUP ✨
We’re honored to welcome Germane Barnes (@germane.barnes ), Founder + Director of Studio Barnes, as our Pitch Night keynote and judge. Germane is an architect placing identity, history, and narrative at the center of design redefining what architecture can be for Black futures and the communities we build with.
📍 Pitch Night | February 26
Evening Flow:
5:30 Doors
6:00 Keynote
6:30 Founder Pitches
8:00 Celebration
Expect bold ideas. Real vision. Founders building what our cities actually need. A room full of people who care about the future of place.
Free tickets are almost sold out. If you’re planning to be in the room, now is the time to get your tickets!
🎤✨ JUDGES ANNOUNCED ✨🎤
Meet the judges for Pitch Night. Builders. Culture-shifters. Big-picture thinkers. People who know our ideas don’t just sound good - they change places, economies, and lives. And yes… they’re helping decide where $15K goes next. 👀💸
They’re listening for:
🎤 bold stories
🏙️ rooted visions
💡 future-thinking strategies
This isn’t just a pitch competition. It’s a celebration of culture-first development - past, present, and FUTURE.
Judges:
• Majora Carter, an OG urbanist from NYC. Real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, an award winning broadcaster, MacArthur Fellow, and owner of @bronxlandia@boogiedowngrind in the South Bronx!
• Calvin T. Brown, Deputy Commissioner for Neighborhood Development at NYC Dept. of Small Business Services
• Dara Kagan, the first VP of Social Impact Banking at Amalgamated Bank
• Fitgi Saint-Louis (@fitgisaintlouis ) a multidisciplinary artist and Founder of Citi of Saints (@citiofsaints )
This is what it looks like when Black heritage meets Black futures. When legacy pulls up for the future. When brilliance takes a seat at the table and on the stage. 🔥 See you there. Tickets in bio.
These are the visionaries taking the Pitch Night stage - eight ventures at the intersection of culture, community, and the built environment 🏗️🎨
The pitches are bold 💥
The ideas are rooted 🌱
The people? Unmissable 👀
Vanessa Morrison, Open Design Collective (OKC) @open_designco
Phillip Boykin, IQLand Innovation (Tulsa, OK) @iqland.ai
Sophonie Joseph, Joseph Urban Planing (NYC) @sophoniemjoseph
Kent Harris, In Good Company (NYC/Ohio) @wearegood.co
Gabrielle Davenport, BEM | books & more (NYC) @bembrooklyn
Danicia Malone, Rokh Research and Design Studio (INDY)
Courtney Morgan, Studio for Collaborative Research & Design (NYC/Baltimore) @scrd_bmore_bk
Britt Redd, Ubuntu Planning Studio (INDY) @ubuntuplanning
Come feel the energy. Come witness what’s next.
🎟️ Tickets are live in bio.
This month we’re taking our annual month-of-rest through Jan 4 to reflect and recharge because 2026 is ‘bout to be hype!
❤️🖤💚 It’s time to slow down and rest. We rest to resist White supremacy and capitalist culture. We rest because we are worthy and deserving. We rest to reclaim our bodies. We rest for joy. ✨✨✨ We will see you in the new year!
🎤 Pitch Night Alert! Come through on Feb 26 at @bricbrooklyn , our inaugural Studio KIN cohort will pitch their services, products, and visions for stronger, culture-first neighborhoods.
Want in? Hit up our Linktree and fill out the interest form - details coming this January. We hope to celebrate with yall there 💡✨
Want to explore your creativity? Start your journey with us!
If you’re curious about digital media, 3D design, entrepreneurship, fabrication and agriculture or want to try something new, our ROOTED Program is for you.
Ages 14-17 are eligible to apply.
Apply now with the link in our bio.
ROOTED is a Youth Design Center program in collaboration with Divine Explosion Arts Program (D.E.A.P.) and Black Space.
#ROOTED #afterschoolfun #afterschoolprogram #NYC #foodjustice #agriculture #communitydesign #entrepreneurship
As the warmth inspires us to get back into the swing of going out and moving around in the world, we’re made to contemplate the history of Black cultural centers of joy, nourishment, creation, and connection. ☀️🌍🎭📚🎨✍🏼🎶🫂
Black-owned churches, nightclubs, restaurants, theaters, and juke joints nurtured (and continue to nurture) the development of Black artists.
The venues, located across the South, East Coast, West, and Midwest, were special in that they were some of the only places where Black culture could be freely celebrated and Black musicians felt safe touring and sharpening their crafts, especially during segregation.
These spaces were often a part of a collective effort, like the Chitlin Circuit: pioneering the creation of new spaces for Black creative expression in America - spaces that artists like Beyoncé and Ryan Coogler continue to reference today.
While many of the venues have been demolished, are no longer open, or have changed ownership, BlackSpace continues to invest in Black-led (or co-opted) spaces that continue the legacy of creating open space for Black creativity across several art forms...
✨/articles/chitlin-circuit
✨/articles/SB10001424052702304803104576428193503273726
✨/2011/12/20/140596530/before-rock-n-roll-the-chitlin-circuit-performed
✨/detour/article262010170.html
✨/about
