MISSION + MANDATE

BIDC • Black + Indigenous Design Collective mission is building capacity and celebrating the advancement of Black and Indigenous voices in spatial design disciplines — urban planning, landscape architecture, architecture, and public art through placemaking.

We acknowledge that the spatial design fields continue to play an active role in the occupation, colonization and oppression of Indigenous people, sovereignty, agency, and authority. We also acknowledge that these professions also impact all communities of colour in ways that contribute to the displacement, continued oppression, and suppression of agency & dignity of these communities.

We strive to actively dismantle these frameworks of dominance within the spatial design fields by embodying decolonized methodologies, and increasing the voices of these oppressive communities within the spatial design professions. This mission is in alignment with larger visions of Indigenous sovereignty, Black liberation, and decolonization.

As a social enterprise, our goal is to advocate for the visibility, well-being and interests of the Black and Indigenous peoples through spatial interventions, scholarship and community engagement. We work to develop frameworks to increase Black and Indigenous youth leadership within design fields and professional industries whilst increasing visibility and educational awareness of BIPOC art and design. This happens through the delivery of our 3 programs:

-Design Cypher (for Black and Indigenous youth ages 13-19)
-Public Art Intensive (for emerging Black + Indigenous Artists)
-MST Futurism (for Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh emerging design professionals).