Despite the intermittent rain and overcast sky on Oct. 4, Mizzou Black Creatives held its first open event of the school year, Art Indoors.
Originally planned to be Art in the Park, an event on Francis Quadrangle, the rain moved it to the Women’s Center in the MU Student Center basement. From 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., attendees were invited to draw, paint or work on a project of their own while mingling with new and returning members.
MBC hosted an art pop-up shop outside the Student Center on September 5, but this was MBC’s first meeting open to the public this school year. MBC founder N’ya Fitz expressed the importance of having an approachable, laid-back atmosphere for its first meeting, aiming to appeal to both prospective and returning members.
“It’s very comfortable and very cozy,” sophomore Michael Hooker-Johnson said. “The best way to put it is that you walk in and you’re welcome.”
Buckets of paint bottles, cups filled with colored pencils, canvases, magazines and tarps were placed throughout the room, as groups separated to create art of any kind and socialize. Some painted portraits while others sewed or embroidered, but many attendees had lighthearted and engaging conversation amid the 2000s R&B played in the background.
“Having that safe space allows students of color and Black students to take that next step that they, you know, potentially have been afraid to take,” Communications Chair and junior Bri Davis said. “We allow them to get comfortable and find their starting place and go off, like a butterfly.”
Founded in October 2022, MBC offers a safe space for Black artists of all mediums, including music, art, poetry, baking and fashion. MBC events range from bake sales to fashion shows to poetry slams, all to support and promote the various talents of Black MU students. MBC member and senior Alana Hayes feels a strong sense of family with MBC, something that she had been searching for ever since arriving on campus.
“I almost kind of felt like I was out of place,” Hayes said. “Once Mizzou Black Creatives came along, I was like, ‘Oh, this would be a perfect opportunity for me to be around other people that might have a creative major or just creative interests.’”
The MBC Gala – a favorite past event of Hayes’s – is one of many examples of the club showcasing the artistic abilities of MU Black artists, specifically her makeup business, @beautyindabottle on Instagram.
“The MBC Gala was so cool to see,” Hayes said. “To see what everybody came up with, like people that just style clothes, and even people who made an entire collection of clothes, and then I got to do makeup. So that was always really fun. They’re always pushing me to do makeup, even when I’m most scared to do it.”
The unique variety that MBC provides with their events is credited to the collaborative nature of the club. Davis voiced that MBC’s motto is “go big or go home” when it comes to planning events, so relying on the different artistic strengths of the executive board and members is crucial to their success.
One MBC member, senior Allie Davis, operates an Instagram page called @l.etterss — a page with poems, journal entries and graphics, focusing on wellness and productivity. She collaborated with both MBC and the Association of Black Psychologists in March 2023 to put on the Anonymous Project, a writing workshop with a personal, uplifting focus.
“It’s all about asking the people that are in those realms for help and support because they want to share their passion just as much as you want to appreciate it,” Fitz said. “I like to give [members] creative freedom to take over events that are more into their realm. Yeah, people [can] have control because this is not my organization, this is the community’s.”
MBC will host a showing of the movie “Us” in the Women’s Center from 7-9 p.m. as their next event, with a pumpkin painting event to follow. They also plan to participate in homecoming and organize a fashion week later in the year.
To join or to learn more about Mizzou Black Creatives, visit @blackcreatives_miz on Instagram.
Edited by Alex Goldstein | agoldstein@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Natalie Kientzy and Grace Knight
