One Large is a collaboration among 100 people. Each
participant receives a $10 bill and pledges to spend it at
a black-owned business in their home community, or
anywhere they may be traveling, within 30 days.
The purpose of One Large is to create a brief interruption in
a flow of money that mainly goes one way: to distant white
business owners.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What difference can a $10 purchase make?
One Large does not change or fix anything. It does not solve the problems black entrepreneurs face. The project creates a brief interruption in a money flow and creates 100 experiences for 100 people.
Why the $10 amount?
Ten dollars is enough that people remember their agreement to complete the project, yet small enough to constitute an everyday transaction. Nothing stops a participant from spending more than $10 on their purchase if they wish to, and some people have.
Where do the hundred $10 bills come from?
Arts grants, previous participants paying their experience forward, and crowdfunding.
How do you define "black-owned business?"
If a business says it is black-owned, it is.
What inspired One Large?
The persistent and legible effect on the current U.S. economy of 246 years of slave labor. The fact that a black applicant is twice as likely to be rejected for a small-business loan as a white applicant with the same assets and credit score.
The work of attorney and activist Maggie Anderson and her book Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, who writes about our American "economy of plunder" in his book Between The World and Me.
Is One Large a giveaway?
One Large is not a giveaway or an incentive program. It is a collaboration that briefly interrupts a system of economic injustice.
Who came up with the idea for One Large?
Cynthia Croot and Joy Katz, co-founders of the art collective Ifyoureallyloveme. The project is carried out by a network of collaborators and is indebted to Maggie Anderson's economic activism.
You are white artists. Is it appropriate for you to do this project?
We propose that the strength of black-owned businesses is one measure of the health of our cities and benefits all of us, no matter our race. We are white artists who propose that it’s all right for anyone to know about the businesses in our cities and about the barriers to entrepreneurship for black business owners in particular.
How do you become a participant?
Participants opt in to One Large after a volunteer describes the project. Each participant reads aloud a pledge to spend her portion of One Large (a $10 bill) at a black-owned business. She then receives the money in a special envelope. Participants return a questionnaire with the business location, their own racial identity if they choose to name it, a photo of their purchase, and their thoughts about the experience. The stories on this site are participants' stories in their own words. The racial identity and/or ethnicity of participants, noted on each page, is in their own words.
Who are the participants?
The first hundred, in 2015, were artists attending an international conference in Pittsburgh.The second hundred participants were attending a theater conference in Washington. Launches in the near future include history and social studies students at the high school for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) in Pittsburgh and a major regional theatre folding One Large into the run of a play during its 2017-18 season.
What do you do with the information participants send in?
All of the data on business locations and race and ethnic identity of participants (if they choose to name it) is here.
I notice some of the businesses are located outside the U.S. Isn't One Large more of an American project?
Some participants live in Egypt, Britain, Serbia, and Australia, and other places. They received their $10 in the U.S. and took it home, adapting the project and spending the money based on skin privilege and barriers to entrepreneurship in their communities and countries.
Now I'm inspired to find black-owned businesses in my city. But I don't know where to start.
Try your local African American Chamber of Commerce. Most have online business listings. Asking around is another great way to find a black-owned business.
By the way—what does "One Large" mean?
It is banker's slang for $1,000—the 100 ten-dollar bills in the project.
participant receives a $10 bill and pledges to spend it at
a black-owned business in their home community, or
anywhere they may be traveling, within 30 days.
The purpose of One Large is to create a brief interruption in
a flow of money that mainly goes one way: to distant white
business owners.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What difference can a $10 purchase make?
One Large does not change or fix anything. It does not solve the problems black entrepreneurs face. The project creates a brief interruption in a money flow and creates 100 experiences for 100 people.
Why the $10 amount?
Ten dollars is enough that people remember their agreement to complete the project, yet small enough to constitute an everyday transaction. Nothing stops a participant from spending more than $10 on their purchase if they wish to, and some people have.
Where do the hundred $10 bills come from?
Arts grants, previous participants paying their experience forward, and crowdfunding.
How do you define "black-owned business?"
If a business says it is black-owned, it is.
What inspired One Large?
The persistent and legible effect on the current U.S. economy of 246 years of slave labor. The fact that a black applicant is twice as likely to be rejected for a small-business loan as a white applicant with the same assets and credit score.
The work of attorney and activist Maggie Anderson and her book Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, who writes about our American "economy of plunder" in his book Between The World and Me.
Is One Large a giveaway?
One Large is not a giveaway or an incentive program. It is a collaboration that briefly interrupts a system of economic injustice.
Who came up with the idea for One Large?
Cynthia Croot and Joy Katz, co-founders of the art collective Ifyoureallyloveme. The project is carried out by a network of collaborators and is indebted to Maggie Anderson's economic activism.
You are white artists. Is it appropriate for you to do this project?
We propose that the strength of black-owned businesses is one measure of the health of our cities and benefits all of us, no matter our race. We are white artists who propose that it’s all right for anyone to know about the businesses in our cities and about the barriers to entrepreneurship for black business owners in particular.
How do you become a participant?
Participants opt in to One Large after a volunteer describes the project. Each participant reads aloud a pledge to spend her portion of One Large (a $10 bill) at a black-owned business. She then receives the money in a special envelope. Participants return a questionnaire with the business location, their own racial identity if they choose to name it, a photo of their purchase, and their thoughts about the experience. The stories on this site are participants' stories in their own words. The racial identity and/or ethnicity of participants, noted on each page, is in their own words.
Who are the participants?
The first hundred, in 2015, were artists attending an international conference in Pittsburgh.The second hundred participants were attending a theater conference in Washington. Launches in the near future include history and social studies students at the high school for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) in Pittsburgh and a major regional theatre folding One Large into the run of a play during its 2017-18 season.
What do you do with the information participants send in?
All of the data on business locations and race and ethnic identity of participants (if they choose to name it) is here.
I notice some of the businesses are located outside the U.S. Isn't One Large more of an American project?
Some participants live in Egypt, Britain, Serbia, and Australia, and other places. They received their $10 in the U.S. and took it home, adapting the project and spending the money based on skin privilege and barriers to entrepreneurship in their communities and countries.
Now I'm inspired to find black-owned businesses in my city. But I don't know where to start.
Try your local African American Chamber of Commerce. Most have online business listings. Asking around is another great way to find a black-owned business.
By the way—what does "One Large" mean?
It is banker's slang for $1,000—the 100 ten-dollar bills in the project.
