WHY
Black consumers in the U.S. spend a trillion dollars a year. Yet almost all the money instantly leaves black communities, flowing mainly to white business owners (as well as businesses owned by people of other races and ethnicities) who often do not live in or reinvest in those communities. Meanwhile, scant money spent by people of other races flows to black-owned businesses.*
This phenomenon, known as “leakage,” means black communities suffer diminished economic power and opportunity. 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.* Because there are few thriving black-owned businesses, young people of color see few people who look like themselves running businesses, making it hard for them to picture themselves as entrepreneurs, shaping the cities in which they live.
We believe the strength of black-owned businesses is one measure of the health of the communities, cities, and countries we live in, no matter our race. So we asked 100 artists to spend $10--1/100th of a $1,000 grant from Pittsburgh's Sprout Fund, which underwrote the project—at a black-owned business in Pittsburgh, or in their home community, anywhere on earth.
One Large does not stop leakage or solve the problems black entrepreneurs and black-owned businesses face. It only notes the presence and potential of black-owned businesses. But together, the 100 participants in One Large create a small interruption in a system of economic injustice.
This phenomenon, known as “leakage,” means black communities suffer diminished economic power and opportunity. 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.* Because there are few thriving black-owned businesses, young people of color see few people who look like themselves running businesses, making it hard for them to picture themselves as entrepreneurs, shaping the cities in which they live.
We believe the strength of black-owned businesses is one measure of the health of the communities, cities, and countries we live in, no matter our race. So we asked 100 artists to spend $10--1/100th of a $1,000 grant from Pittsburgh's Sprout Fund, which underwrote the project—at a black-owned business in Pittsburgh, or in their home community, anywhere on earth.
One Large does not stop leakage or solve the problems black entrepreneurs and black-owned businesses face. It only notes the presence and potential of black-owned businesses. But together, the 100 participants in One Large create a small interruption in a system of economic injustice.
One Large premieres on April 17, 2015 at Open Engagement, an international conference and platform for socially engaged art (hosted this year by Carnegie Mellon University).
One Large is supported by a grant from Pittsburgh’s Sprout Fund.
*Economic data on this page is taken from reports cited in Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson (New York: Perseus, 2012).
One Large is supported by a grant from Pittsburgh’s Sprout Fund.
*Economic data on this page is taken from reports cited in Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy by Maggie Anderson (New York: Perseus, 2012).
