Located in its relatively new, aptly named Art and Design Center on East 47th Street, the Little Black Pearl is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of Black youth through the arts.
Born in the basement of its Executive Director, Monica Haslip’s, home in 1994, the Little Black Pearl opened its current 40,000-square-feet facility in 2004. It allows mainly young people to attend art classes while learning entrepreneurship skills as well.
“The primary mission of the organization was to teach the connection between art and business,” Haslip told the Defender. Since Little Black Pearl’s expansion, however, the mission of the organization has evolved.
“We’ve also kind of incorporated some work around the influence of art on economic development and community development,” Haslip noted. Indeed, the Director of Development, Zakeya Cartman, noted that the Little Black Pearl has helped in the regentrification of the South Side.
“I think our role (in the regentrification) is primarily to be a staple in the community, a place where everybody feels comfortable coming,” Haslip said. From September to June, the Little Black Pearl has after school classes linking the arts and commerce. At the end of the school year, the organization hosts Pearl Fest, the culminating event for the students of the fall program, Haslip explained. Students get to sell the artwork they produced during the year at the festival.
“It really is an opportunity for us to bring the resources that we have developed through our partnerships to the community,” Haslip noted. The Little Black Pearl works with children in an effort to gear them up for success and college. In order to take classes, students must sign contracts holding them accountable for certain levels of performance, behavior, and attendance.
“We really raise the bar of expectation,” Haslip explained. “As a result of being surrounded by people who really care about them and their success, they feel that and they respond to that,” she said of the students. Haslip noted that it was important for the Black community to build more positive institutions like the Little Black Pearl.
“Our children need options and choices and access and opportunities and organizations like this,” she said. “It helps them to have a broader view of the world and prepares them to be in it and successful in it.”
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