Khamil Bailey, a dedicated Black business advocate, is the driving force behind Cocoapreneur Pgh and the co-founder of Greenwood Week Pittsburgh and the Greenwood Plan nonprofit. Alongside these impactful initiatives, Khamil also owns the vibrant Emerald City Pittsburgh coworking space. Committed to achieving equity and economic justice for Black entrepreneurs, Khamil tirelessly champions equal access to resources and opportunities, ensuring that Black businesses flourish alongside their counterparts.

Tomashi Jackson (b. 1980, Houston, TX) combines painting, printmaking, and sculpture with archival research on public infrastructure policy. Her work explores intersections of visual and political languages in segregation, voting rights, education, labor, and housing. Considering color as both chromatic and social, she investigates its impact on the perceived value of human life in public space. Her work has been featured in the Whitney Biennial and exhibited at the Guggenheim, MOCA Los Angeles, and the High Museum.

Ken Ikeda is CEO of Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST). He has led organizations as diverse as BAVC Media, Association of Independents in Radio, International Documentary Association, Public Radio Capital, and Public Media Company. These orgs have leveraged private equity for nonprofit capital, launched start-ups, managed loan funds, and structured mergers and acquisitions to sustain and grow the reach of arts and media. Journalism, film, and audio storytelling are my passions, communities and activism.

Established in 2021, the Greenwood Plan is a Pittsburgh-based non-profit focused on supporting the communal health of Black communities. Our mission is to advance economic justice for Black communities by bridging people and knowledge networks, redirecting resources, and supporting the unique needs of Black businesses.

CAST (Community Arts Stabilization Trust) is a community-centered real estate organization that secures and stewards affordable, inclusive spaces for creative and cultural expression. Rooted in deep partnership with communities across the San Francisco Bay Area, CAST helps arts organizations build pathways to ownership, supports artists in securing long-term affordable leases, and creates dedicated spaces for cultural connection—ensuring artists and cultural workers can stay anchored where they create. Comment end 

KST is leading a groundbreaking national symposium that aims to reshape the future of accessible, equitable cultural spaces owned and anchored by BIPOC communities.

Guided by our vision “Owning Our Future. Thriving Where We Live.,” this three-day gathering in May 2025 serves as a platform to catalyze a critical national dialogue and chart a path forward.

Collaborating with an advisory committee of national and local colleagues, KST curates a cross-industry program that features discussions, performances, and celebrations with leaders in art, activism, urban planning, philanthropy, and government. Together we imagine new financial, operational, and physical structures for BIPOC-owned arts spaces, addressing the structural inequities that the pandemic laid bare.

The symposium spotlights organizations employing new strategies to safeguard culture in their communities. It engages forward-thinking stakeholders invested in emergent models. Look forward to thought-provoking panel sessions, inspiring keynote addresses, and dynamic performances by Pittsburgh and national artists.

symposium pass

FIND FULL SCHEDULE HERE