Black Fidelity

By Jayla McNeill

After months of meticulous planning, three VCUarts student organizations recently presented Black Fidelity, a month-long series of events and programming that celebrated Black student artists and forged new opportunities for community and fellowship. 

Last fall, leaders from Black Art Student Empowerment (B.A.S.E), VCU Blk in Fashion, and Creative Production Collective (C.P.C) came together to find new avenues to collaborate and further their common goal of supporting and empowering black student artists at VCU. After many conversations, they decided to organize a celebration of Black artistry during Black History Month. 

Black Fidelity was devised from an introspective inquiry of what it means to be a Black artist.

“We were just originally thinking, ‘Oh, what do you define as being Black? What does that mean to you?’ [We allowed] people to really take that initiative to find it out for themselves and give them the opportunity to voice their experiences and things they’ve gone through in life,” said Sydney Wilson, president of B.A.S.E. 

Black Fidelity featured a month-long exhibition of the same name, a panel discussion, ceremonies and several group events all centered around the theme of Afrofuturism. This theme emerged from conversations amongst the groups about the past and current portrayal of Black people and artists in the media and arts. 

Taya Coates, president of VCU Blk in Fashion, said the concept of Afrofuturism was one of her favorite aspects of Black Fidelity. 

“I think we—as Black people, especially artists—we look back and there’s not a lot of reference material for us that isn’t tainted or tinged with something harmful from the past, whether it’s slavery or Civil War [or] Jim Crow,” Coates said.  “Everything is related to something that’s happened in the past.”

Coates said Afrofuturism is about “thinking about the future, thinking about Black people and how we’ve always innovated, we’ve always looked forward and set the trends and created the future in ways. So that’s what that meant to me … We create the future to cope with that and deal with [the past].”

The exhibition, which was displayed at The Anderson from February 1-26, was curated with this theme in mind. 

Coates, who also works at The Anderson as a gallery assistant, was instrumental in coordinating the exhibition. The opening ceremony of the exhibition kicked off the month-long celebration. 

“That opening night, it was just a culmination of everything that we worked for, seeing people’s reactions, seeing artists whose families came and drove hours to be there and just celebrate their kids and their family. It was a great feeling to know that we gave people a platform and that we were  amplifying Black voices,” Coates said. 

Mikayla Lindsey, secretary for B.A.S.E, spoke to a few artists at opening night to get their thoughts and reactions to seeing their work on display. 

 “[It was] really cool to see people just expressing themselves in their purest form without feeling a need to impress people or anything like that,” Lindsey said. “They were just like, ‘I just did this because this is just how I feel and without overthinking it so much.’ That was really refreshing to see.”

Organizing Black Fidelity was also a useful leadership experience. 

“Being behind the scenes, it’s been really fun,” said Jalen Harris, the programming chair of B.A.S.E. “ It’s been fun, but challenging. … going out of your comfort zone and trying something new.”

Wilson shared that her favorite memory was preparing for the opening reception at The Anderson. 

 “We were hanging up the work the night before the gallery, just kind of measuring things out,” Wilson said. “It was a lot of trial and error, but it was fun. I really enjoyed the whole behind-the-scenes process and actually just being able to live in that. It was really cool.”

Black Fidelity marks the first time these three organizations have come together to collaborate on an event of this size. 

“It was really cool seeing the amount of passion we had, all of us collectively, and our ideas just bouncing off of each other. That was really, really exciting,” Wilson said. “We were able to be like, ‘Okay, what’s the best way for us to do this in a way that it could connect with everyone?’ And hearing everyone’s different voices and opinions, it just made it exciting.”

Coates said the ultimate goal of Black Fidelity was to get people thinking about ways they could showcase and celebrate themselves beyond Black History Month. 

“Just knowing that people are supporting this and they recognize the need for it and see it now, I think that means the world to us. This is something that we really did just to give people a platform and it worked out. We’re so grateful,” Coates said.

Lindsey shared a piece of advice for any Black artists at VCU. 

“As cliche as it sounds, go after what you want. Reach out to any Black clubs on campus that are catered to the arts, because that’s what they’re there for. They’re there to help you get those connections and get opportunities specifically for you.”

Lead image: Photo from Black Fidelity. (Photo provided by Sydney Wilson)