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promotes, curates, and activates the
expansiveness of Black contemporary
arts + creativity in St. Louis
THE NAME
alma (al-muh) is a non-binary noun with a debated origin, but is widely thought to have been derived from alma mater ("benevolent mother"), a title used for the divine feminine. In a variety of languages, and namely in Spanish and Italian-speaking communities, the word denotes, the spirit or the soul; and is generally translated to mean a nourishing soul or lifted spirit.
For Blackness, the soul has been a site of redemption and resistance, of dignity and duty, of possibility and pain. We are a soul people. The soul, for Black folx, has been described as an inner sense of ourselves defined by creativity, sensitivity, and impulse. In that way, Du Bois locates the souls of Black folx in all things, sacred and secular, artistic and creative, all of which fosters our manner of distinctiveness--it is the site whereby we are unique. And ancestrally, alma is the name of the Black divine, beloved maternal grandmother, Alma Goree, of our founder + managing director.
OUR IMPACT
invest
curate
we intentionally make small-to-moderate dollar investments (ranging, on average, between $1000 and $2500) in Black contemporary arts and creativity activations -- for individual artists and organizations. our research has found that these investments can be catalytic unlocks for Black artists and Black-founded/Black-led organizations. our primary investments are in activating events and gatherings with an artistic point-of-view and commissioning or acquiring new artistic works. out investment areas tend to emphasize any of the following:
Black and/or Black-and-queer intersectional liberation
tensions within the human spirit
existential, faith, and religious experience(s)
experimental and risky socially-engaged perspective -taking
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we work in partnership with emerging artists [meaning artists without gallery representation] and creative organizations to curate solo shows, artistic experiences, and community events to showcase their work for public consumption. we actively engage with our artists and organization to discern the story/ies of their artistic endeavor, understand the nuances of their audience(s), and imaginatively reimagine how their art functions as a mechanism of liberation for the human experience.
FEATURED
ARTIST
Brandon Chavis, a North St. Louis native, is a multi-hyphenate, multidisciplinary artist telling the stories of marginalized bodies, queerness, [sacred] sexuality, and social-emotional anguish within the Black community.
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Through energy collages, utilizing discarded materials [as a praxis of environmental sustainability - a lived, mundane tradition of the Black experience, "finding treasure in another person's trash" - Brandon is developing over-scaled, archival works that function as tangible griots. The energy collages are intended to be emotional avatars for the feelings and moments, times and spaces, resistance and reclamation that queers of color experience. Though rooted in life, the scale of each work gives its avatar ethereal qualities and a heightened sense of spiritual and interior eroticism, in which Chavis’ subjects appear to revel—in control, determination, and joy.
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See more of Brandon's work:
robert s. harvey
he / him
managing director
WHO
Dr. Robert S. Harvey is the founder + managing director of alma creative, a Black contemporary arts and creativity investor, activator, and curator, with commitments to utilizing visual and performing arts to invite encounters with the full spectrum of justice, love, and radical humanity within Blackness. He possesses experience as a collector, art philanthropist, and arts and culture consultant.
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He holds degrees from Bryant University, Harvard University, and Memphis Theological Seminary; and received his curatorial training from the Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Berlin, Germany. Within arts and culture, he sits on the board of National Black Theatre (New York City) and The Big Muddy Dance Co. (Saint Louis).