Focus Areas

We celebrate family, community, and culture in a holistic manner, actively seeking new intersections of our focus areas to foster a safe, thriving African American community in Grand Rapids.

Cultural Arts

Our primary focus is equity in art. We believe in the power of art and self-expression as critical tools to dismantle systemic barriers and inspire lasting change for communities of color. Featured exhibitions and performances have included Damien Escobar, Deborah Shedrick and more.

Entrepreneurship and Wealth Building

We support all entrepreneurs and visionaries as they boost our economy and contribute to neighborhood beautification. For this reason, we offer broader programming related to economic challenges faced by communities of color and offer internship opportunities in nonprofit management, finance, marketing and more.

DEI

Our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is evident in our leadership and our programming structures. Over 80% of NIA Centre’s leadership identifies as a person of color, almost 50% identify as a woman and our Executive Director is a member of Gen Z.

Health

As a cultural center, we strive to explore intersections within a people’s culture that promote overall vitality. We have hosted events highlighting lead poisoning in Michigan and the resiliency of artists who face depression and anxiety, and are always looking ahead to the next challenge.

Education

We believe in the power of representation and storytelling. Many of our events and programming include art demonstrations and civic learning objectives as we build relationships with local schools and universities to expose adults and children to the successes of persons of color.

Research

Each of our focus areas combine to form a common goal - what can we do to strengthen African American culture? We invite anyone with an academic interest in our focus areas to talk to us about your ideas or the gaps you’ve identified.