Black Lunch Table’s (BLT) primary aim is the production of discursive sites, wherein artists and local community members engage in dialogue on a variety of critical issues. BLT mobilizes a democratic rewriting of contemporary cultural history by animating discourse around and among the people living it. First staged in 2005 at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture artist residency, the project has grown by way of contributions from and collaborations with artists, digital humanities researchers, and Wikipedians. BLT currently includes two roundtable series’, an online oral history archive, and a Wikipedia initiative. Much like its creation of physical spaces that foster community and generate critical dialogue, BLT creates a digital space for art, Black studies and social justice issues.
Black Lunch Table
Black Lunch Table Wikimedia edit-a-thon at 2019 Nashville REAL Symposium, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 2019.
Black Lunch Table Wikimedia edit-a-thon at The New School Centennial Festival, The New School, New York, NY 2019.
Black Lunch Table at the Black Artists Retreat, Chicago, 2014.
Black Lunch Table’s First Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 2015
“We strive to support institutions that share our artist-centered values. The small grassroots arts organizations as well as the museums that comprise our grantees provide invaluable opportunities for artists to express their unique perspectives on the pressing urgencies of the day. We hope that our grants help to amplify artists’ voices within their communities, in national discussions and debates, and across platforms in the international contemporary art world.”
Joel Wachs, President