A Year in Review

2019 has been an eventful year for Adornment Stories. Before writing our resolutions and moving into a new year, and a new decade, we want to highlight some of the great moments this past year.

1. Sacred Event

January was SACRED, the culmination of our first round of Adornment Stories. Community gathered to view artwork and discuss mental health and wellness for Black Women and Femmes. The energy, passion and trust shared in that space set the tone for the year and will not be forgotten.

2. New Team Members

We’ve been happy to welcome Adia, Sade and Jenny to the team this year. Both Adia and Sade were previous participants of Adornment Stories 2018 who now assist with future cohorts and expanding the platform. It was after a thorough search and interview process that Jenny joined the team.

You can check out the bios of the entire team as well the 2018 exhibit.

3. Team Building

Our retreat in June has proven to be integral to our growth as a team. We got to work with Black Women with various specializations and unique experiences. It was a crash course in marketing, communications and so much more. We were deeply grateful for this opportunity to learn, share and grow together.

4. Blog Launch

Following a sitewide makeover, our very first blog post went live this year. We are continuously looking to expand the platform from which we talk about art, wellness, adornment, storytelling or the intersections that exist between them. In 2020, we hope to add more content via submissions from the community.

5. Second Round of Adornment Stories

Round two kicked off bigger and better than ever, with more than double the participants and several more weeks of training compared to the previous year. Our 2019 cohort spent the last four months dedicated to creating and developing their projects in order to transform their stories. We thank them for their beautiful work, their dedication to the program and their willingness to share their experience.

6. Mental Health Resources

Safe spaces are important, especially spaces of healing. We curated a growing list of black therapists, psychologists and psychotherapists who are doing great work in our community. It’s also been helpful during our My Mind My Magic Campaign.

7. #MyMindMyMagic

Mental Health Awareness Week 2019 ran from October 6th to October 12th. During the week, we launched the #MyMindMyMagic online campaign, sharing relevant information and terminology as well as our own personal stories. We are grateful to Shaniqua from Black Women in Motion and Registered Psychotherapist, Camille Djokoto, for joining the conversation.

8. Social Media Engagement

Social Media has been one of the main sources of linking our work with the greater community. Seeing the engagement grow has been a source of excitement as more engagement means more voices and perspectives enhancing the conversation.

9. Artist Talk Back & Transformation Stories Event

It’s only fitting that we ended the year the way we began: another opportunity to gather and share space with the community. Still, there has been so much growth. As our reach expands so does our dialogue. We are grateful to those who volunteered their time, energy and voice to our December Artist Talk Back & Transformation Stories Event

Building for Tomorrow

Our collective mission is to provide safer spaces for Black women/femme youth to discuss the issues that are impacting their mental health, develop self-love practices and increase earning capacity via digital arts education. There is so much in store for 2020 including our Sacred workshops this Black History Month, as well as round three of Adornment Stories. It’s through our work in 2019 we are able to continue to develop our impact.