Black Lunch Table

The Black Lunch Table (BLT) aim is the production of discursive sites, wherein cultural producers engage in dialogue on a variety of critical issues.

The Black Lunch Table (BLT) is a radical archiving project. Our primary aim is the production of discursive sites, wherein cultural producers engage in dialogue on a variety of critical issues. BLT animates discourse and initiates a democratic rewriting of contemporary history around and among the people living this history.

Organized around literal and metaphorical lunch tables, Black Lunch Table takes the lunchroom phenomenon as its starting point. Our roundtable sessions provide both physical space and allotted time for interdisciplinary and intergenerational discussions, bringing together a diversity of community members and fostering candid conversations. The Artists Roundtable curates Black artists into discussions, while the People’s Table invites participation from all community members. 

Resource equity means equal access to knowledge, health, wealth, and social resources for everyone. It is not just representation but reparations. Resource equity is only possible if our stories are told by us, creating a record of our cultural, intellectual, and social contributions.

Roundtable Sessions

Friday October 7, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Location: The Illingworth Kerr Gallery

The People’s Table

Friday October 7, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: The Illingworth Kerr Gallery

At the People’s Table, community members participate in conversation around site-specific sociopolitical issues affecting historically disenfranchised populations. This session makes visible the connections that exist within local communities, while laying out new productive relationships to continue the movement for dismantling institutional racism.

This event is open to all, but space is limited so please RSVP early.
To participate in the People’s Table, please follow this link to RSVP.

The Artist’s Table

Friday October 7, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Location: The Illingworth Kerr Gallery

The Artists Roundtable, our founding initiative, provides a forum for dialogue around critical issues directly affecting our communities, reifying the visibility of connections that exist between contemporary Black artists.

This event is open to all, but space is limited so please RSVP early.
To participate in the Artist’s Table, please follow this link to RSVP.

The Archive

Our roundtables conversations are audio recorded. We transcribe and metadata tag the conversations from the individual tables for inclusion on our dynamic searchable online archive. The BLT archive is a unique and innovative fusion of Linked Open Data (LOD) principles, network-based interface and analysis, and user-generated content and curation. As with its creation of physical spaces that foster community and generate critical dialogue, the archive provides a digital space for a community-driven approach to art, historical authorship, and discourse on Black studies and social justice issues. We create, in essence, a browsable network of linked concepts, anchored in our recorded roundtable session and accompanied by a transcript of these conversations, which show their relation not only to the individual, but to broader discourse unfolding within online spaces.

All images courtesy Matthew Springer