Artfluential

Artfluential ARTFL is a design justice practice that has activated the creative economy to center community, equity, and culture in cities for over 10 years.

Guided by the belief that art challenges mindsets, design is world-building, and culture unites humanity. Artfluential is a creative agency dedicated to galvanizing the urban, social, and professional community through means of art, design, workshops, products, and experiences.

07/02/2026

We caught this moment of talking GODSPEED LIVE with .o 🙏🏿🤌🏿🤞🏿 “It’s Worthy…”

TONIGHT at The Maroon Culture Lab by | Doors Open at 7p tickets still available.

Surprise POP-UP Juneteenth On The AveBronzeville Universe 2026: Dedicated to Second Baptist Church. This popup is a trib...
06/20/2026

Surprise POP-UP Juneteenth On The Ave

Bronzeville Universe 2026: Dedicated to Second Baptist Church. This popup is a tribute to our REAL local history of freedom and abolition and the faith centers that carried us through.

The Mythology

WHAT IF… THE BRONZEVILLE BALLERS WERE NEVER JUST A TEAM, BUT A BRIDGE TO FREEDOM?

Second Baptist Church was founded in 1836. It served as a real stop on the Underground Railroad, home to Deacon Pleasant Litchford and forty years of Rev. James Poindexter’s abolitionist pulpit. In our alternate history, that legacy didn’t end with emancipation. Decades later, when basketball became popularized, the Bronzeville Ballers “Freedom Champs” emerged as the next intervention on the train to freedom.

In this alternate timeline, the Bronzeville Church League was the perfect cover for organizing liberation efforts. Even though slavery was emancipated in 1865, the road to freedom didn’t stop there. Jim Crow, redlining, and the urban renewal that threatened to gut the Near East Side were just the next chains to break. Second Baptist remained a site for spiritual and physical liberation. Practices at odd hours. Traveling games with new rosters every so often. Games that ran late into the night. Equipment shipped in crates, players moving in and out of Second Baptist No one questioned it because they were also the best ballers in the game.

They were winning on and off the court. Freedom efforts grew into theaters, universities, freedom schools, and more.

Bronzeville Universe Seeks to reclaim space through imagination and public memory. We build the alternate timeline Through pop-up installations, speculative fiction and design, wearable archives, and campaigns where we invite people to dream out loud, together.

Pull up to the Artfluential Labs pop-up at — cop the tee, step into the universe with us.

LIMITED SUPPLIES | suggested Donation

📍 925 Mt. Vernon Ave | TODAY! June 20 | 3p–5p |

Huge thanks to the creative team:
Design: Josh Simmons
Art Direction:
Creative Direction:

It started with a no. Not one. Several.The backdrop is 2013. Trayvon Martin. The acquittal. Then Ferguson. Mike Brown....
06/02/2026



It started with a no. Not one. Several.

The backdrop is 2013. Trayvon Martin. The acquittal. Then Ferguson. Mike Brown. Black Lives Matter emergence into national consciousness. Funerals for the “N-Word”. A country steeped in uncertainty. As artists have always had to ask in the middle of upheaval what do we owe this moment?

The answer was and is always art. Inspired by the moment Sheri Neale brought an idea to a group of us about bringing a choreopoem out of Baltimore called “A Real N I G * A Show.” By writer and Director Troy Burton.

Being told No multiple times by local institutions who wouldn’t it told us everything we needed to know. If it was going to happen it would be on us.

So we did what Black artists have always done when the door is closed. We built our own room. We called that collective Maroon Arts Group, inspired by the Maroon Societies who lived autonomously when Africans were brought to the Americas to be enslaved. We knew we’d have to move independently. We knew that history would guide us then and guide us now in how we build learning communities and shape our work.

We spent the better part of a year fundraising and organizing. On March 22, 2015 we brought the show to the Columbus Performing Arts Center. We didn’t know how people would receive it. We knew it was provocative. We knew it was powerful. And we knew those two things had never been the same as wrong.

People showed up. They sat with the work. And when it was over they started asking, what is Maroon Arts Group do next?

We had no formal intention beyond RNS but the call was made and we became an official nonprofit in 2016. But this was the moment. This is where the call began.

As we celebrate 10 years we’re going back to the beginning and sharing the moments that brought us here. Grateful for everyone who took a chance on us and on the work.

Should we run it back?

📸: x

February 2025 marked 15 years of Artfluential/Soulo Theory Creative. I’m trying to do better at talking about the impact...
12/23/2025

February 2025 marked 15 years of Artfluential/Soulo Theory Creative. I’m trying to do better at talking about the impact and imprint the work has made over that time in the city and industry—more on that soon. It’s been a grind, and while I’m not typically big on awards, I’m honored to share we brought home a few from this year’s Creative Best Awards—Awards of Excellence for Brotherhood Dance’s (.dance) identity work and Black Men Build’s ( / ) illustration and poster campaign for wartime.

But what matters more than awards is occupying spaces where we’re still underrepresented. Not for the accolades, but for presence. For inference about who belongs in these spaces.

This recognition for Brotherhood Dance and Black Men Build is a reminder of why we do this work. Design isn’t decoration. It’s an obligation to create more equitable objects, symbols, and systems.

This work is never done alone. Big thanks and congrats to my partners , , , , .

15 years in, still building. Still showing up.

Address

867 Mt. Vernon Avenue
Columbus, OH
43203

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Artfluential posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category