WHAT
WE DO
OUR PRIORITIES.
Black Liberation
We use Black to describe any person with African Heritage, from those who live in Africa on their ancestral land to those throughout the diaspora living outside of the continent. Our Black Liberation efforts explore and resource the voices and solutions of those with African heritage. We take an intersectional approach to Black Liberation, inviting voices, and perspectives to the table that reflect the profound richness and diversity of the global Black community.
Black Women & Girls' Liberation
Black Women and Girls' Liberation is central to Black Liberation. Without the voices, perspectives, experiences, and solutions of this constituency, we lack the ability to both: make an accurate assessment of how the oppressions that impact Black people function, and paint the full picture of what our liberation looks like. We also prioritize Black Women and Girls' Liberation as a way to interrupt sexism and male domination as it targets and impacts all people. Black women and girls have always played a key role in Women's Liberation, when we interrupt oppression at the intersection of sexism and male domination and anti-black racism, we make space for women of all identities to interrupt sexism and male domination and how it impacts them. We explored this through our first initiative, "The Pretty Heist", an audio-visual initiative and event series we describe as a “Black female heist on the beautification industry." and several forthcoming initiatives.
Hip Hop
As Ian Lawrence put it in his TEDTalk “Hip Hop has always been used to guide social and political perception.” What better way to amplify the voices of frontline communities than through Hip Hop? If Hip Hop has always been used to guide social and political perception and “perception is defined as the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses or as a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.” is there then, a better way to use Hip Hop than to guide the social and political perception of any social justice issue and it's solutions?
Climate Justice
As explored through the "Whose World? (The New Normal)" initiative, “The goal is to help change popular opinion, spread information and awareness, and support our folks, through this cultural movement and organizing tool of Hip Hop, to connect the dots and engage with the climate movement -- all these issues we’ve been talking about for generations in our art, in movement circles, and in everyday conversation are directly connected to climate justice and the climate emergency.” Our Climate Justice initiatives focus on: signal boosting artists, cultural workers, leaders, and organizations working to stop the extraction, production, and use of fossil fuels. And getting people in the wealthy countries (particularly the U.S. where we are based) to understand that our countries have to share our wealth with frontline countries to help them shift to cleaner sources of energy and adapt to climate change in order to be able to reduce emissions enough to avert the existential crisis (the Climate Emergency) from further progression.
Our initiatives are below, initiatives as defined by, "A new development; a fresh approach to something; a new way of dealing with a problem."
Artist Liberation
Toni Cade Bambara said "The role of the writer is to make the revolution irresistible" We believe this is true for all artists and explore this concept through several initiatives and collaborations with local, national, and international artists and cultural workers and collectives.
Solidarity Building
BGM is a grassroots intersectional black feminist Hip Hop organization invested in the complete liberation of all people. Through our #Sandbox initiatives, we engage in solidarity building with organizations that focus on the liberation of different constituencies. We also offer several types of facilitation, trainings and consultations for businesses, organizations, and individuals seeking a liberation centered lens in their work.
OUR INITIATIVES.
The Pretty Heist
The Pretty Heist is an Audio-Visual media campaign and art exhibit which aims to redistribute the wealth and power of beauty throughout the Black Girl Magic diaspora.
Bedroom Music Festival
A.G.U.A. for Climate Justice
A.G.U.A. for Climate Justice is an initiative to unite African heritage women and girls globally, amplifying their voices and resourcing their climate solutions through Hip Hop. Community Partner Women's Earth Alliance.
Whose World?
Explored through Coco Peila's forthcoming "Whose World? (The New Normal)" MixTing music project, and BGM'scorresponding Hip Hop and Climate Justice Cypher Series, and interview series.
Community Partner Creative Wildfire.
#IAmJaneRoe
The Bedroom Music festival makes live performance accessible to frontline performing artists and music lovers while creating a virtual community, compensating the artists, and sharing the proceeds with a special guest community organization at each concert.
#IAmJaneRoe is an audiovisual media initiative designed to raise awareness about the attempted overturning of Roe Vs. Wade. It explores reproductive justice with a demand for "full control and autonomy of every body with a womb and...honor and respect of our reproductive and care work capacities and labor." Community Partners Urgent Action For Women's Human Rights.