THE IDEA
We asked 100 people to spend $10—1/100th of a $1,000 arts grant we received from Pittsburgh's Sprout Fund—at a black-owned business in Pittsburgh, or in their home community, anywhere on earth.* Together the 100 participants of One Large create a small interruption in a system of economic injustice, a brief reversal in a flow of money that otherwise goes one way.
THE REASON
Black consumers in the U.S. spend over a trillion dollars a year. Yet nearly all of that money, $95 out of every $100, leaves black communities within hours, flowing mainly to white business owners (or businesses owned by people of other races and ethnicities) who do not live in or reinvest in black communities.**
This financial leakage diminishes economic power in black communities. Black entrepreneurs have access to less capital to launch a business. Black-owned businesses are more than twice as likely to have a loan application rejected than those owned by whites.** The dearth of thriving black-owned businesses in many cities means young people of color see few people who look like themselves in charge, and they tend not to picture themselves in charge, running businesses, hiring people, shaping their communities. The cycle continues.
THE PROCESS
Each participant read aloud a pledge to spend their portion of One Large (a $10 bill) at a black-owned business and to document their experience with photos, video, or art. Participants returned to us a questionnaire with the name and location of the business, the distance of the business from their home, their own race and/or ethnicity if they chose to identify it, an image of their purchase, and their thoughts about the project.*** The stories on this web site are their stories. The race and/or ethnicity of participants, noted on each page, is in their own words.
THE GUIDELINES
We offered brief guidelines to finding black-owned business in Pittsburgh and across the U.S., including the free mobile app Around The Way (which, a few days before the launch of this web site, was discontinued by its developers). Participants were not obligated to bring up One Large with anyone at the business they selected. They could simply engage in a transaction, and they could spend more than $10 if they wished.
THE INSPIRATION
Two books shaped our thinking: journalist and activist Maggie Anderson's Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy, which, among other things, traces the historical effect of slavery on the present U.S. economy; and Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between The World and Me, which, among other things, locates systemic economic racism within a larger “system of plunder” affecting black communities (and all communities).
THE REASON
Black consumers in the U.S. spend over a trillion dollars a year. Yet nearly all of that money, $95 out of every $100, leaves black communities within hours, flowing mainly to white business owners (or businesses owned by people of other races and ethnicities) who do not live in or reinvest in black communities.**
This financial leakage diminishes economic power in black communities. Black entrepreneurs have access to less capital to launch a business. Black-owned businesses are more than twice as likely to have a loan application rejected than those owned by whites.** The dearth of thriving black-owned businesses in many cities means young people of color see few people who look like themselves in charge, and they tend not to picture themselves in charge, running businesses, hiring people, shaping their communities. The cycle continues.
THE PROCESS
Each participant read aloud a pledge to spend their portion of One Large (a $10 bill) at a black-owned business and to document their experience with photos, video, or art. Participants returned to us a questionnaire with the name and location of the business, the distance of the business from their home, their own race and/or ethnicity if they chose to identify it, an image of their purchase, and their thoughts about the project.*** The stories on this web site are their stories. The race and/or ethnicity of participants, noted on each page, is in their own words.
THE GUIDELINES
We offered brief guidelines to finding black-owned business in Pittsburgh and across the U.S., including the free mobile app Around The Way (which, a few days before the launch of this web site, was discontinued by its developers). Participants were not obligated to bring up One Large with anyone at the business they selected. They could simply engage in a transaction, and they could spend more than $10 if they wished.
THE INSPIRATION
Two books shaped our thinking: journalist and activist Maggie Anderson's Our Black Year: One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy, which, among other things, traces the historical effect of slavery on the present U.S. economy; and Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between The World and Me, which, among other things, locates systemic economic racism within a larger “system of plunder” affecting black communities (and all communities).
THE ARTISTS
Cindy Croot
Photo by NJL |
Joy Katz
Photo by Star Black |
Cindy Croot and Joy Katz are Pittsburgh-based writers and social practice artists. In 2015 they founded Ifyoureallyloveme, a collective using word, music, and performance, together with pro-beauty and anti-racist strategies, to create art in Pittsburgh and other cities. One Large, a collaboration with many generous colleagues, volunteers, advisors, and friends, is their first project together.
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One Large premiered in 2015 at Open Engagement, an international conference and platform for socially engaged art (hosted in 2015 by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA).
One Large Pittsburgh was supported by a grant from Pittsburgh’s Sprout Fund.
* Two participants adapted the project's ideas about race and entrepreneurship for communities outside the U.S.
** Some economic data on this page is taken from reports in Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson (New York: Perseus, 2012).
*** Not every participant supplied an image or a narrative.
--------
One Large premiered in 2015 at Open Engagement, an international conference and platform for socially engaged art (hosted in 2015 by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA).
One Large Pittsburgh was supported by a grant from Pittsburgh’s Sprout Fund.
* Two participants adapted the project's ideas about race and entrepreneurship for communities outside the U.S.
** Some economic data on this page is taken from reports in Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson (New York: Perseus, 2012).
*** Not every participant supplied an image or a narrative.
