Change Can Happen. Profiles in community leadership: Black + Indigenous Design Collective

Central City Foundation is once again celebrating examples of extraordinary community leadership and innovation from the organizations we walk alongside and support. These individuals and their organizations have demonstrated that change can happen in our community. As part of this celebration, we asked each of our profiled leaders to share their thoughts on leadership, community and hope for a brighter future.

Black + Indigenous Design Collective

We are excited to celebrate the Black + Indigenous Design Collective. Also known as BIDC, this group of designers, artists, curators, and educators has been building the capacity of the next generation of Black and Indigenous leaders. Their programming is the first of its kind in Vancouver, and has successfully created a community where learners can continue to grow and develop beyond its programs. By addressing the significant underrepresentation of Indigenous people and those of African descent in architecture and design through education rooted in futurism and decolonized leadership, they are setting the stage for a new paradigm in the world of built environments.

Q:  How does your work help address some of the challenges faced by people in inner city communities? 

BIDC • Black + Indigenous Design Collective mission is building capacity and celebrating the advancement of Black and Indigenous voices and ingenuity in the spatial design fields, and public art through place-making. As a social enterprise, our goal is to advocate for the visibility, well-being, and interests of Black and Indigenous peoples through spatial interventions, scholarship, community engagement, and decolonizing public spaces through art & design. Barriers inner city communities face are lack of resources available; lack of knowledge on possibilities to access resources or professions that they believe to not be achievable. Our work exposes these communities to design and art possibilities by providing the educational tools and skillsets that the industry requires for success, while fostering a safe environment for inter-cultural exchange and dialogue. We specifically accept students who are emerging or have very little knowledge but curiosity in exploring. We start with the principles of city building and encourage our students to use urban design and public art skills to build the cities they wish to live in.

This is achieved by offering three educational streams:

Design Cypher: The BIDC Design Cypher is a paid introductory summer design training & education program in Landscape Architecture & Urbanism for young Black & Indigenous people and professionals. This program introduces students to design-thinking through lectures in-studio, fieldtrips on-site and applied design exercises through architectural modeling and drawing. The curriculum is designed with a decolonized lens.

MST Futurism introduces xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm, Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh + səlilwətaɬ young professionals to principles and processes in Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning, Public Art, Environmental Design, and Public Policy. The goal is to empower self-determination amongst MST Host Nation people in spatial, urban and environmental design and celebrate Coast Salish knowledge and innovation in Coast Salish territories.

BIDC’s Public Art Intensive is a paid training & education program focussed on the public art realm, introducing and strengthening emerging and semi-established Black + Indigenous Artists to all facets of working as a public art Artist. BIDC’s goal is to play an active role in providing the tools and training to successfully advance B+I representation and artistic careers within the spatial design field.

Q:  How would you describe some of the common lived experiences, systemic inequalities/inequities and other challenges faced by the people you work with?

With less than 1% of Black and Indigenous representation in spatial design fields such as Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture, Architecture and Public Art, we are working to increase representation in these fields and empower Black + Indigenous communities with the skills to be at the forefront of planning, designing and leading their communities. We recognize that these fields are dominated by Eurocentric values and approaches, and offer alternative pedagogies and methodologies rooted in Black liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty.

When you factor the increasing amount of development projects per year, this means that Indigenous peoples’ territories are actively being colonized by predominantly white urban planners, architects and landscape architects, even in the age of UNDRIP and Reconciliation.

Additionally, Black peoples living in Canada with a lineage of diasporic displacement are forced to continue to endure structures and systems strategically designed for their oppression. Our team did a thorough review of UNDRIP and found that the realm of spatial design can directly impact and support delivery of Articles 1-5, 7-15, 17-32, and 35-38 of UNDRIP. By teaching Host Nations, Black, Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous youth and students spatial design skills, this can support the future leaders of those confident in delivering on these action items. In particular the building of the spatial infrastructure, research and education to deliver on important rights of Indigenous peoples in the built environment and spatial design industry. Developing skills in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, urban design, urban policy and environmental design can support significant delivery on the Rights of Indigenous people.

One of the main purposes of our programs is to remove barriers to entry into these fields and empower students to be leaders in shaping and stewarding their communities.

Q:  How would you describe the importance of community connections and a sense of acceptance and belonging for the people you work with?

Our work relies on community building and connection. We specifically focus on Black and Indigenous communities as these groups have the most complex relationship to colonization in North America as a result of stolen bodies on stolen land from the effects of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Solidarity is our most important value, and that can only be achieved by accepting our histories, honouring our ancestors, and moving forward together working towards Black liberation and indigenous sovereignty. Throughout the delivery of our programs, we cater from Indigenous, African and Caribbean restaurants as a means of bonding over our cultural dishes, which adds another element of connection to our community. We also open our programs withancestral teachings from African and local Indigenous matriarchs, connecting over similarities in our roots.

Q:  Looking ahead, can you share with us some of your thoughts about where you see possibilities for change to happen?

BIDC roots our work in futurism. Imagining futures built for and by Black + Indigenous people. Imagine a city built and designed combining AfroFuturism and Indigenous Futurism perspectives; where everything from the buildings, art, landscapes, plantings, pathways, benches, land usage, housing, food sustainability, infrastructure and areas of congregation were designed and developed to sustain the cultures, livelihoods and excellence of Indigenous and displaced Black communities…

We aim to provide the holistic educational framework centring decolonial processes for urban planning and city building, rooted in Indigenous sovereignty and Black liberatory art and design principles that will train our future leaders to be able to build these cities. We aim to remove barriers into these fields and empower Black + Indigenous students to be leaders in shaping and stewarding their own communities. Facilitating collaborative processes that centre Black and Indigenous intercultural exchanges and commitments to solidarity through education. We hope these skillsets will ensure a future of Black and Indigenous led projects, leadership, cities and communities.

Q:  What are some examples that give you hope for a better future for the people with who you work?

BIDC has been in operation since 2020, and has successfully ran 7 programs accruing 67 alumni, and over 80 guest lecturers. We have proven to bring our vision of extending collaborative education and programming to life, and have successfully begun to cultivate a community that each of our students has expressed overwhelming appreciation for. Through decolonized art & design education mainly because knowledge is power and agency. We aim to empower our communities to be leaders within these fields. We recognize that existing institutions will not give them the specific knowledge and tools for their unique identities and that’s what makes us unique.

Our alumni have taken on more leadership roles within their communities, contributed to larger projects, and others have continued their educational paths in these fields after exposure from BIDC. We are confident that these programs will continue to have a great impact in empowering students and the communities they live in and serve.

Q:  How would you describe the value of developing relationships and collaboration in your work and organizations like Central City Foundation?

There is tremendous value in our relationships. BIDC’s does not maintain a typical organizational structure that is based on top-down linear hierarchies; we operate within a circular structure where advisors, allies, community and partners are part of the process that informs the way we make decisions and deliver our programs. Central City Foundation has been crucial in not only seeing the value in us as organizers, but in our students and the futures that they believe in. They have had a presence beyond providing monetary support; they participated in our introduction day and witnessed presentations delivered by the students in order to see the impact of our program firsthand.

Q: What has support from Central City Foundation meant for your organization or your work?

The continual support from Central City gives us the confidence to continue delivering at the same calibre, having the resources to follow proper MST protocol, to provide the necessary support to our community, students, staff and contractors. We recognize the specific needs of our community who hold intersectional identities such as Indigi-queer, Afro-queer, trans, disabled, low-income, struggles with mental health, etc. We have learned from feedback from our participants that our approach in supporting trauma-informed practices and wellness focus has provided more safety and accessibility.

Q: If you could describe a vision for the future of the inner city and the people who live there, what would that vision look like?  

We’ve had the opportunity over the past five years to work with Host Nations, xʷməθkʷəy ̓ əm Sḵwx ̱ wú7mesh Úxumixw, səlilwətaɬ, Black, Global Indigenous and Urban Indigenous students on developing multitudes of visions for the futures of this City. In many of them, they bring far more culture, joy, technology, language, nature and art to the City. We’ve brought in many community members from the Host Nations, Hogan’s Alley, Chinatown, Urban + Global Indigenous communities to contribute and co-create with our students on these visions, developing spaces of healing, transformation, innovation and cross-cultural sharing. Many of these visions discuss the concepts of being in right relationship and kinship with each other, restoring global ancestral trade, forest and river networks, and the responsibilities of solidarity. How solidarity, as a design methodology and artistic practice, can co-create future-oriented places of deep belonging whilst truly honouring the Spirit of Place rooted in our shared histories and cultures.

Q:  Do you have a call to action for our CCF community that you would like to share?

Donate! A major barrier for Black and Indigenous people entering these fields is how expensive and entrenched this education and career is. By offering training, resources and support, we can help remove these barriers by providing opportunities, experience, and portfolio-building projects to underserved communities. Also, hire Black and Indigenous people (plural) into leadership positions in your firms and on your projects. Just hiring Black and Indigenous people during Black or Indigenous history months, as interns, one-time consultants, or on specific, forward-facing projects, is tokenization. The more integrated, supported, and heard Black and Indigenous people are on the internal infrastructure, processes and activations, and respected they are in those positions, the closer we are to bringing in decolonial, sustainable and liberatory futures.