The COMMUNITY ARTISTS’ COLLECTIVE (The Collective), a nonprofit 501©(3) organization, was conceived in 1985 by Michelle Barnes, artist, art educator and director of Barnes-Blackman Galleries and Dr. Sarah Trotty, artist and art educator at Texas Southern University. The Collective was organized to meet the needs of the professional African American artists and with a special sensitivity to African American women artists. The Collective is the catalyst which provides the inspirational and educational sources for artists and citizens so that they can use their talents and creative abilities to solve economic, cultural and social challenges in the natural and built environments in which we live, work and serve.
