WELCOME TO THE TABLE
The Black Lunch Table (BLT) archive is comprised primarily of nearly 300 hours of recordings of conversations between Black artists and members of the communities within which artists live and work. The archive contains recorded conversations from BLT’s roundtable series which began in 2005 as a collaborative social practice art project founded by Heather Hart and jina valentine. The roundtable sessions on which the archive is built, provide both physical space and allotted time for interdisciplinary and intergenerational discussions, bringing together a diversity of community members and fostering candid conversations.
The audio recordings in the archive include conversations from Artists’ Tables and People’s Tables events highlighting creative reflections, shared histories, communal struggles and joys. The roundtable recordings are a rich resource on many topics, such as life as a working artist; social justice; storytelling and family histories; descriptions of schools, education, health care, and community organizations; and discussions of race relations, politics, and significant societal events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The archive is currently in Beta. Additional audio as well as video and image collections from Black Lunch Table’s in-person and virtual programs will be added on an ongoing basis. We would love your feedback! Email us your thoughts at info@blacklunchtable.com.
ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
“It’s so important that as entrepreneurs, as artists, that we stay true to who we are and we’re building our own dream…we’re leaving a lasting legacy: our art, our voice, our stories”
–Artists’ Table, Charlotte, NC, 2016
“Being a photographer is so important because you are a part of telling the story…you actually get to document what’s happening in real time…you and I could be looking at the same thing that’s in front of us […] but I guarantee you, we gon’ see it from two totally different perspectives”
–Artists’ Table, Buffalo, NY, 2022
“Now thinking about quarantine–how college students are now living back at home…Sometimes intergenerational life is forced upon us and then that might create the [opportunity for] advocacy and mentorship…the relationship…that I have with my parents now is much different than the relationship I had [when I was] younger. So, how that information is passed down to me now–the conversations are different.
–People’s Table, Baltimore, MD, 2020
“It’s happening everywhere, but it’s so much more profound here but you know, the privatization of public education, the evisceration of higher ed, public universities, over incarceration…maybe we’re the canary in a coal mine. And, you know, the revolution might begin here“
–People’s Table, New Orleans, LA, 2016
Our video collection consists of recordings from the BLT:Live series, BLT Topic Focus sessions, and other featured talks and presentations. The collection is currently being fully processed and catalogued. In the meantime, you can find most of our video content on our Vimeo page.
EXPERIENCE THE LEGACY ARCHIVE
BLT’s digital archive has taken many forms since its inception. Our legacy archive, AKA Archive 1.0, conceptualizes BLT’s audio archives as a network. Topics, identified by volunteer compilers and associated with Library of Congress Subject Headings, are linked to different roundtable conversations, with the size of the node and width of the edge representing the total amount of time the topic was discussed. Clicking on select topics will generate links to a small selection of archived audio files. The legacy archive is no longer being updated but is offered here as a reference point for how individual roundtable conversations fit into a broader conversation about arts, race, and social justice issues.