Meet the Grassroots Group Making the Art World More Inclusive for Black Women

Black Girls in Art Spaces (BGIAS), a rapidly growing community of Black women dedicated to exploring and supporting Black artists, has grown from its initial meeting in a Dallas art gallery to more than twenty chapters across the U.S. and abroad in just two years.

“The most joyful thing was the connections and knowing that we were a haven for so many black women,” said Kaci Merriwether-Hawkins, founder of BGIAS. “It just makes you feel welcome and connects you with your people. It’s unparalleled to be able to connect with other women who look like you and who may have had similar experiences.”

The group formed after Merriwether-Hawkins moved to Dallas in 2022 and was looking for new friends.

“It was my first time in a new space where it was harder to make connections,” Merriwether-Hawkins said. She attended Tuskegee University in Alabama, a historically black university that she describes as having a very close-knit, close culture. She first fell in love with museums in 2020, after seeing Black is Beautiful: Photography by Kwame Brathwaite at the Columbia Museum of Art in her hometown in South Carolina and hoped to meet other people interested in art and culture.

“I wanted to create a group where Black women could experience these artistic spaces together, something that was accessible, conversational, and multigenerational,” Merriwether-Hawkins says.

Merriwether-Hawkins hosted first BGIAS event at Daisha Board Gallerywhich at the time was the only contemporary art gallery in Dallas owned by a black woman. Soon after, volunteers started their own chapters in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities. As of August 2024, some 30 BGIAS chapters have organized events, including internationally in London, Nairobi, Seoul, and Mexico City.

“It’s a community garden. I planted a seed, and so many people came and poured into it,” Merriwether-Hawkins says. She attributes BGIAS’s rapid growth to its active social media presence, as well as its clear name. (“The name alone will draw in the right audience,” she says. “You don’t have to think about who it’s for. It’s a magnet for people who share the mission.”)

A typical BGIAS event involves women taking a private tour of an exhibition of a Black artist’s work in a commercial gallery, museum or other art space, followed by a guided talk about what they’ve just seen and then a shared meal. Events can also include workshops or lectures related to the art. Most BGIAS events are free, and some select events are low-cost, Merriwether-Hawkins says. The events are open to the public, but the group asks that all attendees identify as a Black woman, girl or nonbinary person. People of all ages are welcome, and many attendees bring their children.

The biggest challenge was choosing the right groups and institutions to work with, as well as ensuring that their activities were inclusive and did not favor the group or black artists.

The art world is a notoriously exclusive place. Analysis by journalists Charlotte Burns and Julia Halperin published in 2022 of nearly 350,000 acquisitions and 6,000 exhibitions at 31 U.S. museums between 2008 and 2020 revealed grim divisions along gender and race lines. Works by female-identifying artists made up just 11% of acquisitions and 14.9% of solo and group exhibitions, while works by Black American artists made up 2.2% of acquisitions and 6.3% of exhibitions. The numbers for Black American artists were even grimmer, with their work making up just 0.5% of acquisitions, well below their 7.7% share of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census.

One of Merriwether-Hawkins’ favorite parts about organizing is how diverse the participants’ backgrounds in the arts are. Some participants have very little experience visiting galleries or museums, while others are working professionally as curators or artists. Some have even made connections through the group to find jobs in the industry, Merriwether-Hawkins says.

As she looks to the group’s future, Merriwether-Hawkins wants to continue reaching out to Black women who share the group’s mission, as well as offer more educational opportunities, such as curatorial seminars and classes on art collecting.

“One of the things I’ve really learned from building this community is that there are Black women all over the world who love art,” she said. “I want to reach those people. That’s my biggest goal.”