NOIR Labs is a long-time dream manifesting through Holy Spirit guidance, prayer, collaboration and insane but calculated risk-taking. In case you’re encountering our beloved organization for the first time, my name is Lolade Siyonbola and I’m the Founder. I’m also a Sociology PhD student at Cambridge University researching worldmaking through cultural production.
Since committing to bring this dream to life, myself and my collaborators have been conducting research, testing our assumptions and deepening our global network. In that time, we’ve never published anything comprehensive to share the fullness of our vision with the world. This post is the first step in that process. Because our vision is quite thorough, it can’t fit into one post. Read the below, let us know what you think and then join our community for more info to be published over the next several days.
Defining NOIR Labs
NOIR Labs is a hybridized social enterprise with nonprofit and for-profit entities created to inspire and operationalize Black Liberation worldwide through art, technology and community building. Our offerings are designed primarily for Black folk around the world who are committed to liberating themselves from within, and to leaving a better world for our children’s generation.
NOIR Labs has been in incubation since January of 2019 when I kicked into full gear building this dream with classmates, professors and other supporters at Yale. However, the vision was built and cultivated over 14 years before that, starting with my spiritual transformation in 2005. Exodus to Africka, founded in 2006 and active until 2019 was the previous iteration of NOIR Labs and is the foundation on which the organization was built.
Our mission is to make it clear to us and the world that Black people have always been the pinnacle of human genius and ingenuity and thus should be treated with reverence throughout the world.
Why we exist
This post will focus on what we do and how we do it, but we’ll be publishing our story very soon so that you can have more details on how the organization came to be. What I’ll say for now is that this vision is the culmination of my personal experiences as a transnational Nigerian, illegal immigrant, artist, technologist, single widowed mother, spiritual being, and so much more. It has been beaten, tested, bruised and nourished across five continents, three universities and a very tight-knit community of visionaries.
We’re following a New Blueprint for Black Liberation to develop products, programs and experiences that empower Black people to liberate ourselves from within. All of our offerings integrate art, technology and community building to rewire the Black collective consciousness for Liberation. Our mission is to make it clear to us and the world that Black people have always been the pinnacle of human genius and ingenuity and thus should be treated with reverence throughout the world.
What We’ve Achieved
So far, we’ve
- Raised $31K from fellowships, friends and family, which has been invested in the below activities.
- Hosted 5 live film screenings and community building events in New Haven, Boston and New York
- Hosted weekly virtual events (including live interviews, panels and watch parties) since May reaching up to 5000 people worldwide via livestream
- Designed and implemented a scrum-based operational structure, tested successfully on a team of 10
- Developed 4 websites (noirlabs.org, noirpress.org, noirfest.co, community.noirfest.co) as well as branding elements
- Developed prototypes for our virtual community platform, Portal X
- Launched a bi-weekly newsletter curating the finest aspirational Black content.
- Consistently improved the mental health, self-perception and self-determining power of our community of 13,000 people across the globe.
Offerings – NOIR FEST
Our first offering is NOIR FEST. Soft-launched during the Yale Africa Film Festival of 2019, NOIR FEST is the first of it’s kind traveling film festival curating the finest aspirational films from across the Black Diaspora. Through visually stunning, aspirational films centered on believable Black heroes, NOIR FEST will fundamentally transform the way Blackness is understood and experienced globally. NOIR FEST Digital, our first major virtual event will take place from December 5 to 12, 2020. Join our mailing list to be the first to know details.
Art
NOIR FEST curates gorgeous, meticulously executed, artistic films that center, celebrate and reimagine Blackness. We also include visual art, especially digital illustrations, A/R, V/R experiences, visionary scripts and curated virtual boutiques to increase access to high-end products designed and manufactured by Black brands in Africa and the Diaspora. If you’re a filmmaker or artist, you can submit your work here. If you’re a brand, contact us to exhibit.
Tech
Now that we are in a low-mobility era, the NOIR FEST experience will be virtual rather than in-person. However, technology was always a core dimension of the NOIR FEST experience. In the eventual live experience, our NOIR FAM will utilize our app to navigate the experience, learn more about the art and products exhibited, make purchases and connect with other dreamers in attendance. Covid forced us to pivot, thus we are developing a digital platform (Portal X) on which NOIR FEST events will be hosted, allowing for virtual community theatres in which small groups can enjoy films together with live video conferencing, chat and personal profile engagement. Think Facebook meets Netflix meets Zoom. But instead of selling your attention to unscrupulous profit-focused entities, we’ll accelerate your personal development by connecting you to the people, opportunities and tools that will facilitate the achievement of everything on your Bucket List.
Transparent data collection is an integral part of Portal X design, thus allowing us to utilize artificial intelligence to assess the most urgent needs of our community. From this transparent and intelligent data design, we will deliver experiences, products and programs that account for personal and collective needs and preferences.
Community Building
Every element of NOIR FEST is designed so that our community members learn more about each other, more about diverse Black experiences distinct from their own, feel safe to share their true thoughts and feelings and are empowered to integrate, connecting more intimately than what has been made possible by other Diaspora events. We are committed to continuing and deepening the interactions, conversations and relationships begun at all our events using intentional technological tools and design.
Offerings – noirpress
Our second offering is noirpress. noirpress is a media platform crafting a liberated Black future through curated aspirational art, storytelling and investigative research. We’re a community of visionary writers, creators and curators highlighting the stories and strategies of Black Geniuses–the future leaders of global cultural enterprise. We also highlight Diaspora events and other opportunities and resources to help you manifest your wildest dreams for yourself and for our people.
Art
noirpress leads with visually stunning imagery and literary art to tell the stories of Black Liberators, and to highlight effective social movements, technological innovations and other liberation efforts from across the world. We curate the photography, digital art, literary art and more that documents Black self-determination as it is happening.
Tech
Known primarily for Black Genius and our Saturdays with noirpress, all livestreamed via multiple social channels, noirpress capitalizes on high-end digital tools to exhibit Black Genius to the world. Through highly-interactive content, we engage with and analyze the thoughts and preferences of our audience. This information is documented and tracked to allow us to use AI to predict the most urgent needs of our community and to deliver on those through future NOIR Labs activities and offerings.
Community Building
noirpress’s cornerstone is our cyphers, in which diverse community members come together to analyze and debate key pressing topics impacting the Black world. By intentionally including Black voices from distinct parts of the Diaspora and Continent–and providing space for connection beyond the debates–we are inspiring integration at the most intimate levels, which ultimately translates to macro integration through deeper appreciation of Black ethnicities other than one’s own.
Learn more about our projects launching in 2021, Portal X and the African Digital Institute, here.
NOIR Labs Foundation
Our 501(c)3 nonprofit oversees noirpress, the Digital Homeschool for Future World Leaders (DHFWL) and the Black Womxn’s Mental Health Fund (Mind Over Matter).
The Digital Homeschool allows us to tap into our community of accomplished Black Geniuses to provide first-class educational opportunities to low-income Black youth. When launched, we will provide virtual individualized instruction in everything from financial literacy and spiritual history to visual design and the science of turning imagination into reality. Our goal is to ensure that our children are fully equipped to thrive in the future world, in which hard skills–like entrepreneurship and self-mastery–will be infinitely more critical for success than the memorization skills currently prioritized by most Western educational systems.
The Black Womxn’s Mental Health Fund will support low-income Black Womxn in critical need of emotional and mental health services by providing them access to Talk Therapy, personal development programs and support groups.
These projects will launch when they are funded. You can make a donation here.
Metrics
Across the board, we study our community, tracking and measuring their mental health, goal pursuit and achievement as well as network growth and dynamism. We regularly survey our community on the following metrics through our live and digital dialogues
- Mental health and self-perception
- State of platonic and familial relationships
- Romantic relationship status
- Personal goal achievement
- Professional goal achievement
- Ethnic identification & cultural confidence
- Economic access
Impact
We are inspired by the knowledge that activating our vision to its fullest potential will enable us to impact millions of Black people across the globe. From improved mental health outcomes and improved self-perception, we will see improved relationships, overall wellbeing, personal fulfillment and improved economic outcomes over the next ten years and beyond.
The implementation of this vision will also lead to macro impact as described in our Decade of Black Glory declaration, including increased integration of diverse Black communities–locally and globally. We will see increased migration to the African continent with the outcome of rapidized economic hypergrowth that is not marred by cultural clashes but rather marked by deepened trust and peaceful collaboration. We will also see an infusion of (human and capital) investment into Black communities in South America, South Asia, Oceania, Europe and of course North America.
We intend to impact at least 10 million people across the globe over the next five years through our offerings of instructive content, tech-empowered experiences and community platforms. We will distribute hundreds of films and cultural productions, generating increased revenue for African and global Black filmmakers and content creators, while ensuring that more Black content–the Black imagination–retains Black ownership. We will also elevate the global imaginary concerning Black people by replacing images of Black pain, death and trauma with imagery of Black love, thriving while Black, and Black opulence.
Short Term Goals
We are currently focused on upgrading our tech, optimizing our content production through noirpress, planning NOIR FEST Digital and iterating on the Portal X experience design. In that process we are building our Advisory Board and our Inner Circle, as well as recruiting for those who can help us execute on our digital publishing strategy and the human-centered design vision for Portal X. Our fundraising campaign will launch very soon to support these efforts. If you’d like to help us with any of the above, please send us a message.
What you can do
Most definitely you’re here because you too would like to see Black Liberation worldwide. Together we can make this happen! You can easily manifest this vision with us by doing one or all of the below.
- Spread the word! You can easily increase our impact by sharing this post with 5-10 people. Drop it in your family group chat! Share it on your socials! If everyone in our current community shares this post immediately after reading it, the vision will impact millions of people in no time.
- Join our mailing list and social community so that you never miss an update. Be the first to know about our amazing events, learn how you can join the NOIR FEST planning team, become a beta-tester for Portal X, write for noirpress and much more.
- Support our work with a tax-deductible donation to NOIR Labs Foundation to facilitate our research, development and community development efforts.
- Join our Advisory Board! If you’re highly experienced in developing tech and media enterprises, and share our values of Black Liberation, transparency, faith, compassion and gratitude, please contact us to learn more about our Board vision.
- Become a NOIR Partner! If you or your organization are deeply committed to Black empowerment, align your mission with ours as a partner. From NOIR FEST to Black Genius, there are countless opportunities to increase our impact together. Contact us to start the conversation!
Thank you for reading! We are so excited to build the New World with you!!! Make sure you eat your greens and get your vitamin D 😉
