This original went out in my newsletter and I’m so passionate about it that I need it to live on the blog. You can sign up for the newsletter at https://juanitarosenior.beehiiv.com/subscribe : 

It’s Black History Month and the first edition of my personalised publication. I know some people have mixed feelings about BHM and its value but I’m never going to shy away from an opportunity to celebrate us.

However, for the first time, I found myself getting vex as I witnessed some interesting behaviour from our own. One thing you’ll see people complain about during this time is being asked to do things for free and organisations not having budgets readily available for the annual event. One thing that isn’t called out is how our own can be complicit in the exploitative behaviours of these organisations.

So if you don’t know I manage talent and one of my clients was approached to take part in an exhibition for an incredibly well-known retailer. The initiative – led by a Black woman – was a dumpster fire from the very beginning with the goalposts changing every time we spoke. This individual:

• approached multiple people to display their work with no compensation – Sometimes money isn’t always available on projects but their must be some benefit to person investing their time.
• offered to pay for printing of my client’s work then negated on the offer and told them they could pay for printing themselves saying that budget had been spent elsewhere.
• Advised they were representing this prestigious retailer – and is an employee there – but when it came to signing an agreement to protect my clients copyright etc they suddenly became ‘a brand within the brand’ – total nonsense.
• asked for one set of work and then tried to get more and more out of my client’s archive.
• Presented that their work would appear across multiple sites then changed it to one location.
• Proposed to display their work poorly with no consideration for the integrity of the work.

Needless to say, we terminated the opportunity but not before a lot of work had gone in curating and pulling together agreements.

Now as someone who works in industry, I know that things can change all the time but Black History Month comes around every year. To have a Black woman approach my clients and say that they were attempting to elevate Black creatives but felt no shame in offering them nothing not even a decent display of their work was aggravating AF.

What seems to happen is that those doing the asking put no thought into the fact that this is the livelihood of some of these artists. How do I know? Because honestly before being self employed I did the same thing. It’s important to remember that they deserve to be compensated. It doesn’t even have to be cash but something that will genuinely amplify the person taking part. Phrases like “raise your profile” just make people’s eye roll.

The other interesting thing is that this representative left her company open to a potential PR nightmare as there’s nothing juicer than a social media post telling the world how a brand is attempting to exploit Black people during Black History Month. The irony is huge.

What I would say is if you’re ever in the position that you’re trying to organise BHM inside an organisation:

• Advocate for a budget well in advance and remind your employers how asking for things for free is the same as slave labour and isn’t great for their public profile.
• If you can’t persuade them to invest, find other ways to celebrate the month that doesn’t involve the labour or cost of someone else for the event to be delivered.

And please remember – as I told her – just because we’re Black doesn’t mean we can’t be professional. This is a bugbear of mine where I feel like despite working in ‘mainstream’ spaces those learnings are often put aside when dealing with each other. Another rant for another day.