BLACspace Cooperative Membership is a movement.
BLACspace Cooperative Membership is a community of cultural and creative leaders shaping the world we live in and the future we want to create.
Rooted in the Black cooperative tradition and cultural stewardship, BLACspace is building the infrastructure for a new arts economy through collective power, shared resources, and community care. The vision is shared. The resources are shared. The future is built together.
Applications due by Nov 2, 2026
“BABA” by Casper Banjo. Courtesy of CARP / Community Archival Resource Project at EastSide Arts Alliance
BLACspace Membership provides creative businesses and organizations with the practical tools they need to grow, connect, and thrive in a cooperative community.
BLACspace exists within a long lineage of Black cooperation, from centuries-old mutual aid networks to the Black Panther Party and the many movements that understood collective care as a form of power. BLACspace Cooperative Membership carries that tradition forward. Built for artists, cultural workers, community leaders, organizations, and creative businesses, membership brings people into a shared ecosystem of resources, relationships, knowledge, and support.
BLACspace is a multistakeholder cooperative with three active member classes:
Worker Members:
The staff team who runs the daily operations of the cooperative and provides services to Oakland’s cultural ecosystem.
Seed Members:
Seed Members actively participate in the cooperative for one year. After completing the program, they become eligible to vest in BLACspace and transition into Root Membership.
Root Members:
Root Members get full financial and governance rights. They get to help make big decisions, can vote for people on the board, help create rules, and even earn a share of any extra money the cooperative makes at the end of the year.
Access the resources, relationships, and knowledge that allow creative work to take root, expand, and endure.
Individualized Support
Holistic Wellness Check: We will review your organization’s strengths and areas for growth with our in-depth wellness assessment.
Individualized Coaching Plan: After the wellness plan is complete, each member is given a customized coaching plan, which includes their wellness check score and an action plan supported by their coaches, along with learning lab recommendations.
4 Hour One-on-One Coaching: Receive personalized guidance and support from our coaching experts.
Personalized Matchmaking: We match members directly to professionals, peers, and partners aligned with their needs.
Member Benefits Include
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Professional Development
Skills-Based Learning Labs: Monthly hands-on workshops designed to elevate your organization’s capacity to thrive.
Access to The BLAC Toolkit: Our member-exclusive portal that includes tools, tutorials, and resources to support business development, cooperative education, and capacity building.
Funder Cultivation Panels: Meet funders, learn about their priorities and funding opportunities, ask questions, and build relationships that can grow over time.
3
2
Community Connection
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Monthly Group Coaching, Co-working & Connection: Required sessions where Seed Members can work through challenges, make progress on their priorities, and receive support from coaches and peers.
Fabulous In-Person Events: Celebrate and collaborate with like-minded leaders while honoring our culture and community in style.
Member Socials: Quarterly in-person gatherings where members can build genuine relationships, share ideas, and connect with the Bay Area’s Black arts and culture community.
Offers & Needs: Structured opportunities for members to share what they can offer, name what they need, and find solutions within the community’s knowledge, skills, and resources.
Are You Eligible?
To be eligible for BLACSpace Cooperative membership, organizations must meet the following requirements:
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Actively engaged in the promotion of Black arts and culture
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You serve communities rooted in Northern California
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Your organization has a history of offering arts and culture programming to the Oakland community for at least 2 years.
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You hold or aspire to hold cultural space whether through real estate acquisition, long term lease, public land projects, pop up events, third and/or hybrid spaces or other formations.
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Your group has a loyal community of participants, audience members, clients, supporters, or champions who actively take part in your programs.
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Your group is set up as some type of formal organization, like a non-profit, LLC, cooperative, sole proprietorship, fiscal sponsorship, or collective.
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Your organization/business shows clear capacity for 1-3 participants to engage fully with BLACspace’s offerings, including active involvement in one on one and group coaching, events, and cooperative governance (see schedule below).
2027 Member Program Calendar
Seed Member Application Due
Nov 2, 2026
Seed Member Decisions Communicated
Early December 2026
Seed Member Onboarding
January 2027
Seed Member Opening Convening
Feb 18th, 2027, 10 - 4 PM, Oakland
In Person + Required
Learning Labs
Every 1st Thursday, 10 - 11:30 AM
Virtual + Optional
Group Coaching
Every 3rd Thursday, 10 - 11:30 AM
Virtual + Required
Member Retreat
Fall 2027, Northern California
In Person + Highly Encouraged
Applications due by Nov 2, 2026
Reciprocity dues
Members contribute based on a sliding scale tied to their organization’s budget. We suggest a minimum of 0.1% of your budget—so, for example, an organization with a $100,000 budget would contribute at least $100, while one with a $1 million budget would contribute at least $1,000. The full value of the program is estimated at $10,000, but during our start up phase, most costs are being subsidized by philanthropic support.
Please note that these initial rates may change in the future.
We can’t wait to hear from you!
—The BLACspace Team
Members of the Artist As First Responder collective reading BLATANT zine. Oakland CA 2025 by Sasha Kelley