Community in Action
Black Joy
Renaissance
Bingham Riverhouse
Expanding the story of Black life beyond survival.
A room brought together around a different question: what becomes possible when Black joy is given space?
Black Joy Renaissance — Bingham Riverhouse
The Idea
Too much of the public conversation about Black life is necessarily concerned with inequity, racism, barriers and survival.
Black Joy Renaissance created space for another part of the story.
Not as a denial of challenge, but as an intentional expansion of the narrative.
The Experience
Hosted at Bingham Riverhouse, Black Joy Renaissance brought people together for an intimate, participatory conversation exploring Black joy and what enables us to flourish.
Jackie G Michaels facilitated a panel conversation bringing different perspectives into the room, while the audience were invited to reflect, participate and contribute their own experiences.
The result was not simply a panel to watch. It was a room in conversation with itself.
Bingham Riverhouse, in full flow.
Black joy does not require us to ignore what is difficult. It asks us to make space for what is possible too.
One question, answered in handwriting.
Participation
The Joy Tree
A recurring feature of Jackie’s early Black Joy work was the Joy Tree.
Guests were invited to answer a deceptively simple question.
What brings you joy?
Their answers became part of the room. Individual reflections accumulated into a collective picture of what people valued, protected and wanted more of in their lives.
This participatory approach would later become important to the philosophy behind The Joy Set Collective. The community is not simply an audience for the blueprint. The community helps build it.
The Blueprint
Black Joy Renaissance reinforced three ideas that continue to inform The Joy Set Collective.
Our Stories Matter
We need narratives about Black life that include possibility as well as challenge.
Our Knowledge Matters
Lived experience is a valuable form of intelligence and should help shape the conversations, resources and solutions created for our communities.
Our Joy Matters
Joy is not an indulgence at the edge of success. It can influence how we live, connect, work and imagine what comes next.
Jackie G Michaels with the Black Joy Renaissance panel.
This work forms part of the foundations from which The Joy Set Collective has grown: building the blueprints and legacy for how high-achieving professional Black women live, lead and flourish.
Black Joy Renaissance was hosted at Bingham Riverhouse and facilitated by Jackie G Michaels.