In the heart of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, a dream born from a time of social unrest has blossomed into a beacon of creativity and community. Black Arts Love, founded by Malika Bennett in 2016, has evolved from humble pop-up market beginnings to become a celebrated gallery and marketplace that showcases the work of Black artists.
In this candid conversation, Bennett shares the powerful vision that sparked her entrepreneurial journey—from a literal dream featuring Black leaders gathered around a table, to the creation of a welcoming community space that now represents over 30 Black artists. Learn how this former hospital event planner transformed her passion for arts and community into a thriving business, and discover her exciting plans to expand into youth art education in 2025. Bennett’s story is more than just a business journey—it’s a testament to the healing power of art and the importance of creating spaces where creativity and community can flourish together.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell us a little bit about Black Arts Love:
All of our products are from Black artists or curated by Black artists, and we’re all about uplifting and amplifying Black artists and providing economic opportunities through our retail store and through mentoring and just sharing our creativity.
How long has Black Arts Love been in operation?
Black Arts Love has been in operation since 2016. We started doing pop-up markets at Garfield, Franklin, and Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, and also just doing different mentorships with Black artists and doing marketing opportunities and things like that. So that’s how we got our start, very grassroots, and then we got a grant around 2021 with the Seattle Office of Economic Development and we were able to open up our store in Capitol Hill and that’s how we got to where we are now.
Tell us about the products that a first-time customer can expect to see when they come in.
Our top sellers will probably be our candles and cards, our jewelry, like the earrings and rings.
We have a lot of smaller items as well as the bigger artwork on the walls from different local artists. We tend to attract a lot of tourists so you can expect to find lots of gift items, including ceramics and journals. The journals are some of my favorites.
How did you get your start as an entrepreneur?
Around the time I started Black Arts Love, there were a lot of police shootings happening. I was working in the hospital sector doing event planning and I had kind of a Come-to-Jesus moment where I was really trying to figure out what I can do to make a difference in my community. And that led to me having a dream.
Some might call it a vision – you know, something that awakened me. I saw this in my dream – it was a table of all of these different wonderful, powerful black leaders coming together and bringing their talents to create solutions.
From there, that’s when I kind of looked at my talents, and thought about what could I do to give to my community? I love the arts. I always thought arts can bring people together, create conversation in difficult and very tense times. Art has always been very healing for myself and others.
I thought it’d be great to do pop-up markets where I can bring my kind of event planning expertise and love for community together. From there, it’s just really been me following my passions, loving to connect with people and seeing just how bringing community together really impacts not just myself, but the community at large. That’s where Black Arts Love really was birthed and born.
Now we’re here in the retail phase, and we’re actually going to be transitioning into a new phase in 2025, where we’re focusing more on our art classes and workshops, especially with the youth and getting people hands-on doing the arts. It’s very healing to make things with your hands, and there’s actually scientific evidence behind that. I didn’t know that until I started doing the research, but there’s actually some scientific connection to that.
What’s something that you’re proud of as a small business owner? It’s a chance to brag a little bit.
As a small business owner, I would say I’m proud of the independence and the ownership of your time. I think that’s the thing that I’m most grateful for, as well as the ability to connect with the community on a daily basis.
Sometimes, when I was working in the corporate world, I always was people-facing, because I love people, but it’s just a different experience when it’s your own business, and it’s people coming in to support your vision, your business, and the things that you’re trying to accomplish in your community. So, I’m proud of that.
I’m proud of just being able to be behind my own vision. It’s cool to support someone else’s vision, but it’s different when you’re out there supporting something that you’ve conceived and created, and then to have other people get behind you and support you, it’s just affirming. It’s lifted my confidence level.
It’s helped me build my confidence. One of the things that I’m grateful for, as a small business owner, is just connecting with the people and seeing other people support the bigger vision that I have.
Intentionalist is all about spending like it matters in our local community at diverse owned businesses. If you happen to also think that that’s important, could you talk a little bit about why?
I think that it is so important to spend our dollars in our community because it creates jobs, it creates stability in our community.
It’s very hard to be a small business owner. So every little bit of support matters to keep our businesses going and thriving. It creates opportunities where we don’t have to have people depend on the corporate world for a lifestyle or for making a living.
I had nothing against the corporate world, but it’s just not for everybody. That’s not everybody’s path. So it creates jobs and opportunities.
I just think it’s fun to support local. For me, I enjoy supporting marginalized communities and putting those dollars back where we can use them to uplift our community.
What are some other small businesses that you want to give a shout out to?
I would like to give a shout out to my family’s business, KYIZ. That’s where I learned a lot of my entrepreneurial skills and sales skills.
I’d also like to give a shout out to Island Soul. That’s one of my favorite Black-owned restaurants, and I just think their food is so amazing and the service is great.
I’d also like to give a shout out to all the other Black-owned art galleries – Arte Noir, the WOW Gallery, Onyx, and Made Space. I just love any of the art-related businesses that are out here doing the work and connecting with the community. I want to give a shout out to them because I know it’s hard, but you’re doing an amazing job.
What do you want to make sure that people know about this business?
I want people to know that my heart has been fully in what we’re doing at Black Arts Love. I’ve always had love around me, but it’s different right now.
I feel like I’m truly surrounded by love from every person that’s walked in here from all over the globe because we get a lot of tourists, which I wasn’t expecting. I enjoy meeting all the different people from different walks of life and connecting with them. I want people to know that my heart is truly in community and this space really is just an extension of that, but I love uplifting people. I love to be uplifted.
I want us to work together and do more together. And I think that’s really what Black Arts Love is about, is about uplifting and amplifying the voices that have kind of been held down in our society. And my heart is a hundred percent in this work.