ARTISTS IN THE ROOM
In 2017, Artists in the Room was founded by Rikki Byrd, Shabez Jamal (neé Donny Bradfield), Danielle McCoy and Lola Ayisha Ogbara. Collectively, we paid close attention to the St. Louis arts environment and its newly saturated exhibitions and programming fields including Black creatives. Noticing that we were a part of just a handful of Black creatives who would occupy a room, we decided to fill that void by ultimately founding a collective that caters to our community, Artists in the Room.
Creating intimate experiences solely for Black St. Louis residents who were artists or had an interest in creative endeavors, we’ve hosted events with Mickalene Thomas, Sanford Biggers, T.J. Dedeaux-Norris, Larry Ossei-Mensah (& more!) and launched a collector’s chat series with Washington University in St. Louis’ Vice Provost Adrienne Davis, all while curating events to cultivate community, networking, and kinship among our intended audience.