Irrepressible Soul
Irrepressible Soul Collective is a local non-profit art group that explores Black identity through various art forms. Their approach, the Irrepressible Soul Model, blends arts with community care practices. Created by Iyana Hill and Dr. Terron Banner, this model builds equal partnerships and mutual support networks within Black communities and the African diaspora. This community-centered approach has helped them secure $375,000 in funding (2023-2025) that center community impact. Their work is informed by experts in culturally responsive teaching, community governance, decolonial art practices, and Black aesthetic theory. The model has been recognized at the 2023 Engaged Scholarship Consortium Conference at Michigan State University and the 2023 Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities at Penn State University.
IG: Irrepressible.soul
Education Foundation For Freedom
A nonprofit arts organization founded in 2016 by Dr. Elaine Richardson to serve underrepresented areas of Columbus. Growing from her own youthful struggles, Dr. Richardson created EFF to empower vulnerable youth. EFF provides immersive experiences focused on arts, literacy, entrepreneurship, community responsibility, and wellness. We serve as a launching platform for success in overlooked Columbus communities. EFF’s mission is to interrupt vulnerability by promoting access to arts, culture, education, entrepreneurship, and well-being.
AMS
The American Musicological Society (AMS) exists to expand understanding of music and sound through research, teaching, learning, and advocacy. To realize its mission, the Society fosters new work through a range of grants, fellowships, publication subventions, and awards; encourages exchange through publications, meetings, performances, lectures, and other public programs; and supports the professional lives of its members and constituents through workshops, mentoring, discussion forums, and other resources. As a guiding principle, the AMS promotes equity, access, and inclusion.
MAG
The Maroon Arts Group (MAG) is a non-profit grassroots organization galvanized to build and provide a platform for community, art, and learning, centered in the cultivation, celebration, and promotion of Black Cultural production and art. Since its inception, MAG has become a cultural powerhouse and a leader in the arts and cultural production in the city of Columbus and are just getting started. MAG wants to see a city where Black art, creativity, and ingenuity is normalized and not fetishized. A world where Black people are safe and can show up as our whole selves. The future looks bright, and MAG plans to be here for the long haul.
OSU AAAS CEC
The African American and African Studies Community Extension Center (CEC) exists as a result of national demands by students, faculty, and community advocates in the aftermath of the waning Civil Rights Movement. The demand for Black Studies programs during the late 1960s foregrounded the under-representations of Black students in higher education, as well as the lack of inclusion of the Black experience and Black intellectual, social, cultural, and political contributions in the traditional disciplines. The emergence of Black Studies programs and departments filled those educational gaps in colleges and university curricula. The pioneers of the discipline, however, recognized the importance of not being myopic in focus and limiting the mission of the discipline to work within the walls of academia. Social responsibility is a critical foundational pillar of the discipline that is carried out at the CEC through public-facing scholarship, community-engaged programming, and fostering political action for change.
https://aaascec.osu.edu/about-us
KAC: Our Mission
The Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex connects community through the arts. Our Vision: To be the preeminent culture and arts institution in Ohio preserving, producing, and presenting the cultural expressions of African Americans. Our Programs: We engage central Ohio through performing, cultural and educational programs of high artistic merit that increase and disseminate knowledge regarding the vast and significant contributions of African-Americans to the culture and history of America and the world. Our History: Opened in March 1987, The King Arts Complex is located on the near East side of Columbus, Ohio, in one of the oldest areas of African-American life in the city. Serving as a major anchor for development in the King-Lincoln District, The King Arts Complex is an oasis for cultural and educational activities as well as community facility for special events.
https://kingartscomplex.com/about-us/