About

Blackout Tuesday is a platform for learning, sharing and growing. We convene to seek equity for Black communities through partnerships across the venture capital ecosystem. We focus on catalysing change within the venture capital ecosystem whilst also educating on systemic issues and Black lived experiences, local and global.

WE ARE ON A JOURNEY

We are on a journey as a partnership, community, and platform and are constantly evolving so we can continue to address systemic inequality in the venture capital industry and beyond. We recognise the importance of holding both the partnership and our platform accountable, and this is how we are doing that:

  • Committing to holding quarterly sessions through 2030
  • Keeping the spotlight on Black lived experiences and crucially solutions in seeking racial equity (combating racism) in venture capital
  • Expanding the breadth of the engaged network behind the quarterly forum by increasing the diversity of topics discussed
  • Spotlighting important solution focussed work in seeking racial equity – organisations, individuals, networks
  • Being a catalyst for initiatives and partnerships through Blackout Tuesday forums
  • Acting as a platform for the Black venture capital community

WHO WE ARE

Blackout Tuesday is a partnership between Phoenix Court Group (the home of LocalGlobe, Latitude, Solar, Basecamp, and Phoenix Court Works), Black Seed VC, Future Africa, JOLT International, Newton Venture Program, and Next Economy Trust.

OUR COLLABORATORS

Vocal Type

The Blackout Tuesday partnership purchased its typeface from a graphic design organisation called VocalType. VocalType is a foundry established by Tre Seales to bring equity and equality to the graphic design industry. From the VocalType site: ‘When a singular perspective dominates an industry, regardless of technological advancements, there can (and has been) only one way of thinking, teaching, and creating. This lack of diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender has led to a lack of diversity in thought, systems (like education), ideas, and, most importantly, creations.’

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More on the MARTIN typeface we proudly use:

  • ‘MARTIN is a non-violent typeface inspired by remnants of the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968.
  • Nobody knows for sure how the sign idea originated. Supposedly it was a collaboration of union officials and civil rights activists. About 400 posters were printed in a church print shop.
  • ‘Memphis sanitation workers, the majority of them Black, went out on strike on February 12, 1968, demanding recognition for their union, better wages, and safer working conditions after two trash handlers were killed by a malfunctioning garbage truck. As they marched, striking workers carried copies of a poster declaring “I AM A MAN,” a statement that recalled a question abolitionists posed more than 100 years earlier, “Am I Not A Man and A Brother?”.
  • ‘King was assassinated at Memphis’s Lorraine Motel the next night, just one day before a massive rally was planned. On April 8, four days after King’s assassination, his widow, Coretta Scott King, led some 20,000 marchers through the streets of Memphis, holding copies of another poster that read, “HONOR KING: END RACISM!” The strike ended on April 16, with the city agreeing to union recognition and raises.’
  • ‘Martin Luther King Jr. joined the cause, speaking to a crowd of 6,000 in late March and returning on April 3rd to deliver one of his most famous speeches, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” King placed the strike in a larger context, declaring, “The masses of people are rising up.”

Chill Create is a boutique agency, built on recommendations from a diverse client base. With an ethos of ‘good design’ at its heart we like to work with good people, good ideas and great projects. We aim to produce creative work that is memorable and meaningful to the communities and audiences that have inspired our creative and cultural experiences.

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