An arts writing incubator, public programming initiative, & publishing platform that builds discourse around contemporary Black art.
2026-2027 Art Criticism Apprenticeship
BES x Scalawag Magazine
Willie Jamaal Wright
BES Makes its Way to Houston
The second round of our beloved Art Criticism Apprenticeship is underway! We’re collaborating with one of our favorite outlets, Scalawag Magazine in Houston, to provide mentorship and guidance to Willie Jamaal Wright. He’ll be reporting on its exhibitions and goings-on that comprise “the art world,” and meeting with the BES and Scalawag editors on the histories, forms, and functions of art criticism.
Stay tuned to BES to see what Wright will be writing over the next six months!
Political Arts Writing is Back
Subscribe to New Print Project
The Brief - Print Edition
Snail Mail to Feed Your Brain
We’re launching a print newsletter that thinks about art and arts writing as vital political practices. The Brief centers artists, critics, culture workers, and everyday people as political thinkers—as people whose words spark ideas and, just maybe, social change.
We’ll publish 3x/year and the first issue comes out in November. Learn more about how to get The Brief or go subscribe now.
Take Root Among the Stars
Mattaniah Aytenfsu’s work goes live in Seattle
Public Art
Make Public Art Public Again
We commissioned Mattaniah Aytenfsu, new media artist/designer/engineer, to create work that is embedded in online ad space throughout Seattle. The work is a generative video series that draws on Octavia Butler, interrogates displacement, and is being beamed to residents in Seattle neighborhoods that trace an arc of racialized gentrification since the 1980s. Read more about Take Root Among the Stars.