RCA BLK

Our core objectives are to promote, improve and advance education by encouraging and supporting the practice of contemporary visual artists who identify as Black within the RCA’s wider community. We aim to do so by fostering relationships with pre-enrolled students, current students as well as alumni.

RCA BLK will positively impact students' experience from the African diaspora and build upon the rich legacies of the RCA student body. We look forward to welcoming the visionaries of the future to our growing community whilst we continue to expand the discourse and conversations around contemporary art and design.

Co- founded as a grassroots community group in June 2020 by Roxanne Simone and Emily Moore, with the support of the founding members Timi Oyedeji (*September 2020) Melanie Issaka(*June 2020) Andy Hart(*June 2020), Josh Woolford (*June 2020), Jerome Ince-Mitchell (*June 2020), Ibrahim Cissé(*June 2020) , Michael Forbes (*June 2020), Sheran Forbes (*September 2020) and Mary Adeturinmo (*September 2020) and a number of Friends from the RCA’s wider community.

Historically, Black RCA students have created groups that have provided a platform and a much-needed extra layer of support for Black and PoC students. Platforms such as the RCA Black co-created by Ekua McMorris and the PoC Link-up collective by Jerome Ince-Mitchell – both of whom are current members of the Black Association – have paved the way and created a network of alumni relationships that continued outside of the college.

However, the visibility and sustainability of Black alumni within the RCA remained invisible to current Black RCA students, and as a consequence continued to cause feelings of isolation, low student numbers that identify as Black who also encountered microaggression and racism. To combat this and forge a new model, Roxanne Simone and Emily Moore began the conversation to create an association that would remain central to the Black student and alumni experience in and outside of the RCA for years to come.

*dates joined

• To build and sustain a network of Black RCA artists.
• Establish student and alumni peer-to-peer mentoring and support.
• Facilitate scholarships and bursary initiative for Black prospective students and current students.
• To positively impact the attainment gap of Black home and international students within the College.
• Create and manage exhibitions, events and socials that support Black RCA artists both during and post education.
• Facilitate RCA's Black students and alumni entrance in the creative industries.