BIPOC Resources for Creatives
At Shillington, we’ve searched the web to bring you a comprehensive list of BIPOC resources—creative directories to explore, organizations to follow, creative services, design events and places for mutual aid.
Read on to discover a wealth of these amazing resources that support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour), along with important initiatives within the creative community to bring visibility to organizations, creatives around the world and programs aimed at empowering and celebrating creatives of colour.
BIPOC Creative Directories
#ShilloNY teacher Deepa Shanbag launched an online directory for talented creative women of colour from all over the globe. If you’re a WOC, it’s free to join and if you’re looking to hire, you can view the directory to see the complete list of creatives.
The Deloris directory is a BIPOC creative listing for all creatives available for paid hire in the creative industry. They also provide a job board of BIPOC-owned businesses and organizations looking for pro bono creative services.
The design directory is a listing of Latinx designers and includes spotlights in an effort to promote talent in the community. You can also filter creatives by country, pronoun and discipline.
The mission of Latinxs Who Design is to provide a platform for creatives and a directory of talented designers you can follow, hire or even find a mentor. Know a great designer? You can also nominate a creative you admire and join the Slack channel to stay connected with the community.
The database provides resources, art, design, art direction and photographer directories of black creatives.
Fuse is an inclusive platform aimed at elevating the voices and work from creatives of colour. The BIPOC directory is a listing of creatives in Manchester and you can search the listing by discipline.
Hire Black Creatives Directory
The Black Creatives Directory aims to make it easier for black creatives and businesses to network and find each other. The global listing featuring creatives from a wide range of industries from fashion and art to graphic design and photography.
Looking for an illustrator? The directory provides an amazing listing of editorial illustrators, cartoonists, animators and artists you can hire for your next project.
The Drawing While Black directory provides a listing of animators, character designers, 3D designers and writers with details on their location, area of expertise and portfolio.
The aim of Blacks Who Design is to promote and inspire new designers and encourage people to discover talented individuals and a potential creative to join your team. You can also join their Slack channel and nominate a designer you admire.
The global platform launched earlier this year and aims to amplify the work of Black women and non-binary photographers around the world. Their aim is to disrupt the idea that it’s difficult to discover Black creatives and they aim to create a dialogue via social media to ensure “Black women are empowered to make the industry as colourful as it ought to be.”
The collective aims to empower Black photographers and includes a charity photo initiative with the work of over 80 photographers with all profits going to civil rights, arts education and community building and criminal justice reform.
The Twitter directory includes a list of accomplished women designers in the industry and helps people find new creatives to follow on Twitter. You can search by job title, location and expertise. Additionally, the website has a job board and a nominate feature that allows you to nominate a woman who you think is valuable to the design industry.
The People of Craft is a showcase of creatives around the world and across a range of disciplines, including design, advertising, illustration, lettering and much more.
If you have an illustration project in mind, then Black Illustrators is your go-to resource for your next project. The database can be used by companies to discover and hire top talent from illustrators with a unique style. You can also join their illustrator hub on Slack which serves as a chat room to communicate and share ideas with other designers.
The creative directory was founded by model and XYNE collective casting director Nouri Hassan. The listing spans a myriad of roles from photographers and hairstylists to make-up artists and models and more.
A listing of BIPOC owned studios working within architecture, graphic design, industrial design and more.
Directory of BIPOC owned studios across architecture, art, design, product design, art direction and more.
Organization of Black Designers
OBD is dedicated to promoting visibility, empowerment and education with the focus that diversity in design offers a unique perspective and helps to contribute to global culture.
Designers of Colour is a visual directory that showcases designers, illustrators and lettering artists from Black, Asian and Marginalised Ethnic Background. Creatives can also sign-up to join the directory and also have an active Instagram page which is linked on the website.
The People of Cabaret: The Directory
The Directory from Australian-based The People of Cabaret, collective of artists of colour who work in the live performing arts sector, is an initiative to keep record and create a database of the beautiful diversity across our entire arts industry and specifically champion artists of colour.
25 Black-Owned Home Decor Brands
Support these Black-owned home decor businesses and also support a bigger cause. This guide from MyMove includes 25 Black-owned home decor brands where you can find goods for all your home decorating needs.
Creative Services
For designers who want to offer their pro bono services for BIPOC organizations, Design for Black Lives is looking for designers to sign up. Alternatively, if you’re a business looking for design services, you can use their design request form to submit the proposal.
Pro Bono Artist Consulting for BIPOC Visual Artists
Are you a freelance artist looking for some guidance on working with client projects? If you’re a BIPOC visual artist, the visual editor Raydene Salinas Hansen is offering 1:1 support for project-based services. She’ll answer all your questions and provide the support you need.
The database is an ever growing list of resources from reading lists, wellness resources and career support so that you can find whatever you need in one place.
Design For Black Lives: Pro Bono Design
Want to help out with your design services? Fill out the pro bono form and get added to the Design for Black Live’s database of pro-bono designers.
The New York-based community and agency Creative Collective curates spaces for creatives of colour, such as events, unique content and cultural consultations.
Prem Krishnamurthy of Wkshps is offering free 30-min consultations to Black and Black-led non-profits, cultural organizations, businesses, artists and designers.
Collective Power is a group of designers, writers, artists and strategists that are offering free design services for BIPOC owned businesses.
Events, Programs and Resources
The foundation empowers young urban creatives through creativity and offers both outreach and empowering workshops. They also work with partners to ensure young people are provided with opportunities and training.
Ethel’s Club is a New York-based social and wellness center that aims are celebrating people of colour through conversation, wellness and creativity by coming together as a community while providing tools to encourage inspiration.
Have you been wanting to get into the ad world as a creative and based in the US? Created by The One Club for Creativity, One School is a free 16-week online portfolio school for Black creatives. Students are offered access to top talent in the advertising industry and aim to help them create top portfolios. Through mentorship, students are provided with a network of support so that they can succeed in the industry.
As a social organization, Afrotectopia builds community with the world of art, design, technology, black culture and activism through innovation that builds longterm impact.
Jolt is both an academy and recruitment firm that brings together creatives from underrepresented backgrounds into companies while helping them achieve success in their new role.
The Indigenous Design Charters (Australian and International) advocate for respectful exchange and commitment to diversity, commitment and openness by providing best practice guidelines for designers, educators and students.
Design Can pose the questions in their manifesto, “how can we inspire the next generation of designers without role models to represent them?’ and “how can design continue to be a source of world-changing ideas?” They want designers, curators, editors, writers, filmmakers and organisers within the design industry to be allies. Their resources section provides useful links to accounts to follow, podcasts to listen to and articles to read.
Equity Meets Design wants to help creatives increase their capacity as a designer in order to make an impact in accordance to your individual purpose. Through their equityXdesign course, they aim to help organizations, teams and individuals to diminish the impact of racism and inequity in design practices.
Mental Health Resources for Young People of Colour
Mental Health Resources for Young People of Colour includes organizations, digital resources and videos, support groups and therapy directories to help support the mental health of young people of colour. This resource also provides a list of Instagram accounts of mental health educators, therapists of colour and community support pages.
Unmute Magazine is a digital publication by and mainly for BIPOC artists. Exclusivity is not the goal because they strongly believe in the importance of engaging in continued discussions involving all races and ethnicities, surrounding inequity. However, Unmute Magazine exists to primarily lift the voices of creatives who have been historically marginalized, although, BIPOC allies are welcomed.
An extensive list of mental health and substance use resources specifically for the AAPI (American Asian and Pacific Islander) community.
A dual diagnosis guide written specifically for Black people that addresses the complex issues surrounding mental illness and substance abuse.
18 holistic and chiropractic wellness resources for the BIPOC community.
Healthcare Racial Injustices Guide
AddictionResource.net created this guide in order to bring awareness to the conversation about the intersection of race, racism and substance abuse. The Kaiser Family Foundation defines racial health disparities as the “higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality experienced by one (politically and socially constructed) population group relative to another. Recognizing the ways non-white Americans are disproportionately affected by these health disparities, however, can build a pathway to greater understanding and developing solutions.
Video Series, Podcasts and Books
Where Are All the Black Designers
The Where Are All the Black Designers is a platform for all creatives of colour aiming to connect designers, educators and leaders to discuss change within and outside of the design industry. Replay their last conference, join their Slack group, post a design job or become a mentor.
The Blacklisted podcast sets about to discuss various topics around creativity, diversity and race, raising questions and addressing uncomfortable topics that need to be discussed.
The weekly showcase of Black designers developers and digital creatives around the world has a variety of features and interviews so that you can learn about each person, their work and what inspires them.
The podcast engages in conversations on race, identity, social change and leadership with cultural shapers and change-makers founded by Layla F. Saad, a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author, anti-racism educator and speaker.
Deliberate & Unafraid Book Club
The Book Club was founded by designer, De Nichols, and features books and experiences by authors, activists and artists, starting conversations on topics related to current social challenges and injustices globally.
The podcast is hosted by writer and photographer Lou Mensah and engages in conversations with change-makers and activists within the arts.
Mutual Aid and Places to Donate
Black Artists and Designers Guild
The Black Artists + Designers Guild was founded by the New York-based artist Malene Barnett to address the lack of representation of Black talent and culture in the design industry. The collective uses its platform to represent Black artists, creators and designers with the goal of creating an inclusive environment. Their online directory promotes its members and provides opportunities.
Reskill America: The Great Rehiring Initiative
Career Karma launched a new initiative during COVID to help people who were left without jobs to get a free laptop. By partnering with organizations and leaders, they are raising $500,000 for the fund in America. All donations can be contributed to their GoFundMe fundraiser.
The collective comprises of philanthropists promoting Black arts and culture. Through grants and organization-to-donor growth, their goal is to boost and empower the future of Black art. Black Art Futures provides grants to small non-profits working within Black arts and culture.
The mission of Allies in the Arts is to support womxn, BIPOC and LGBTTQQIAA2P+ artists within the creative industries by breaking down barriers, awarding grants, curating exhibitions and creating connections for artists.
Brown Art Ink is a community incubator that supports artists, organizations and people of colour. They invest in the arts and aim to ensure artists have opportunities for a sustainable career.
Helpful Articles
- Nonprofits that Support and Amplify Black Voices in the Arts
- The Design Collective Taking on Structural Racism in the Industry
- Diversity in Design: How Agencies Can Strive to Hire More BIPOC Creatives
- 26 Organizations You Can Donate to That Support Emerging Black Artists, Thinkers, and Change-Makers
- Can the design industry’s diversity problem be fixed?
If you have any recommendations for additional resources to add and ideas, email us here, we would love to hear from you!
Header graphic design by Shillington New York teacher Cathy Sison.
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