PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Optional Add-On Day | Thursday, June 19, 2025

Downtown Minneapolis
  

  • Location: Pimento Jamaican Kitchen & Rum Bar

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    Description: Come out early and meet and greet with this year’s SoBD team! Get acquainted with SoBD event organizers, speakers, and sponsors, and become part of the burgeoning community actively working to bring about the change we want to see.

    • 12:00 - 01:00 | Speakers & Sponsor Reception

    • 01:00 - 02:45 | SoBD Juneteenth Meet & Greet 

  • Location: Minneapolis Institute of Art

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    Description: Join us for an exclusive tour of the Giants exhibit at the MIA.

    Giants is a groundbreaking exhibition that marks the first major showcase of the Dean Collection, owned by renowned musicians and cultural icons Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys.

    The exhibition highlights nearly 100 significant works by Black diasporic artists, including Gordon Parks, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lorna Simpson, Amy Sherald, and more. The exhibition reflects the Deans’ passion for supporting established and emerging artists while fostering important dialogues about art, culture, and identity.

  • Location: Minneapolis Institute of Art

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    Description: Following last year’s success, SoBD is excited to be in the house to support MIA’s interactive and multidisciplinary 2025 Juneteenth program Additional details are forthcoming, but expect live exhibits, curated community discussions, and contributions from hometown artists and designers.

DAY 2 | FRIDAY June 20, 2025

Minneapolis College of Art & Design

7:30 AM - 9:00 AM :: Registration + Program Pregame + Continental Breakfast

Upon arrival guests will be welcomed by our registration team. Guests will receive their welcome packets and learn more about their unique program experience. Guests will also be able to explore some of our open exhibits / activations before the kickoff of the official program. Light refreshments will be available. 

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leader: Mister Drake aka The Mind of Milan

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leader: Jasmine Arielle Barnes

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Speakers:

    • Omari Souza

    • Dr. Gwendolyn Freed

    • Jenny Breeden

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leader: Alisha Padolsky 

    SoBD’s Alisha Padolsky serves as our human wayfinder offering an overview and preview of our morning program. A volunteer will be aligned with each Activation Station.

9:30 AM - 9:45 am :: Travel Time to Activation Stations

  • Description:

    Get ready to engage with designers and creatives from across Minneapolis and beyond as they present a slate of curated social learning experiences aimed at sharing knowledge, expanding capabilities, and building community.

    Select three:

    Black Centered Design with Jessica Thompson & Karen Bauer of AALF

    Classroom 230 - 2nd Floor

    • Who is designing the systems that shape our lives, and why isn’t it us?

      Black-Centered Design is a visionary framework that places Black experiences, culture, and knowledge at the heart of systems and innovation. Evolving from the foundations of Human-Centered Design, it reorients the focus—rooting design in Black ways of knowing, being, and imagining. It draws from a rich tapestry of wisdom: ancestral insight, lived experience, community expertise, and creative brilliance—to shape futures that reflect and celebrate Black life in all its complexity and beauty.

      This approach moves with intention, guided by the voices of educators, artists, policy thinkers, technologists, everyday visionaries, and The Forum’s internal team of design strategists and policy experts. It is a design philosophy that prioritizes resonance over replication, depth over tokenism, and imagination over limitation. Like the griot, it gathers and weaves stories, data, and insight into powerful, responsive systems that reflect who we are—and who we are becoming.

      Black-Centered Design is not a reaction—it is a declaration. A declaration that the future is being crafted in our image: expansive, interconnected, and unapologetically Black.

    Design Careers in Product Creation

    College Center - 2nd Floor

    Step inside the product creation process with Pensole Lewis College—the only HBCU dedicated to design. In this interactive session, attendees will explore the fundamentals of fashion and footwear product development, from concept to consumer. Expect practical insights on storytelling through design, material selection, and the creative strategy behind building for brands and culture. Whether you're a student, creative, or emerging professional, this session offers a real-world glimpse into what it takes to bring innovative products to life.

    Pathway to Retail: Mass Retail Journey with Stacey Monsen

    Classroom 101 -1st Floor

    • The Target Accelerators team share retail 101 and provide an outline of what to expect on an entrepreneurs journey to retail. You will walk way knowing what it takes and what to expect as you find you pathway to retail shelves

    Success on Shelf: Build a Sound Strategy with Kalsa Muehlhausen

    Classroom 105 - 1st Floor

    • The Target Accelerators team shares the key factors that drive success on shelf and how you can build a strategy to deliver success. Building a strategy that leverages the power of three factors: Viability, Feasibility and Desirability. How might you deliver a product experience that delivers all three. 

    Inside the Hairball: Navigating Design in Corporate Environments with Tysonn Betts

    Emeritus Room - 2nd Floor

    • Designing inside a corporation can feel like untangling a knot with one hand tied behind your back. This session explores how to stay inspired, collaborate effectively, and make real impact—without getting lost in the layers. Expect relatable stories, creative strategies, and a few laughs along the way. Led by Tyson Betts.

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Speakers:

    • Omari Souza

    • JXTA + TAD Student Showcase intro

    Description: We’ll wrap up the morning, and provide insight into the purpose and plan for our midday break, and what we hope you’ll get out of this dedicated time to commune.

  • Description:

    At SoBD we are intentional about building community. That’s why we’re designing a lunch experience to help SoBD attendees connect and begin cultivating relationships. Attendees can opt-in to a host of curated activities, and, of course, eat!

    • EAT!

      • Lunch is available for pick up in the Campus Center

    • R&B Day Party

      • Bring your lunch outside and join the celebration of Black joy and community on the lawn.

    • Outdoor Rec Room

      • Hula hoops, bean bag toss, and more.

    • Restorative Stretch Session | Main Gallery or Lawn weather permitting

      • Reduce stress and restore energy. Come as you are—no workout gear required.

    • JXTA + TAD: Student Project Showcase

      • Stop by and check out the next gen designers.

Afternoon Program: Meeting The Moment 

SoBD’s afternoon program brings together a collection of designers, academics, thought leaders, industry insiders together to discuss the current cultural moment and the many challenges and opportunities that come with it. Together we will explore the progress we’ve made and lost, the necessity of meeting this moment courageously, and how we can build a robust community of support that can keep us connected and inspired through these uncertain times. 

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leaders: Mister Drake aka The Mind of Milan
    Jasmine Arielle Barnes

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leaders: Alana Cheeks-Lomax

    with Reham Habib

    Description: SoBD’s Alana Cheeks-Lomax welcomes guests back after the break and helps orient us for the afternoon program

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Description:

    SoBD invites a collection of creatives, thought leaders, and change-makers to the stage and share one big idea in a PechaKucha-style showcase with a SoBD twist. Each presenter has 6 - 8 minutes to present their idea before our “time stickler” DJ begins playing them off the stage in this engaging “beat-the-clock” challenge.

    • Roger Cummings; Juxtaposition and Community Arts

      • Roger Cummings, co-founder of Juxtaposition Arts in North Minneapolis, speaks on the transformative power of design as a tool for community ownership and youth empowerment. Drawing from decades of work at the intersection of art, activism, and urban development, he explores how creative infrastructure can shift systems. His talk centers on making design accessible, relevant, and rooted in place.

    • Cameron P Downey, Even the Rocks Cry Out: Feeling and Hearing Black Sculptural Heritage

      • Cameron Patricia Downey (b. 1998) is an anti-disciplinary artist born and raised in North Minneapolis, Minnesota whose work oscillates between photography, film, body, sculpture, curation and otherwise.  The incidental, the precarious and the misremembered are central to these works which strive to archive, unfurl, make-altar-of and bring fantasy to the Blues of Black life and relation.

    • Paul Bauknight, Baldwin Square

      • Paul Bauknight, founder of Baldwin Square and a longtime advocate for Black representation in architecture, shares insights from his work advancing spatial justice and community-centered design. Drawing on his residency at MCAD and leadership in the Baldwin Square initiative, he discusses the need to reimagine built environments through a Black cultural lens. His talk explores how architecture can be a vehicle for belonging, legacy, and liberation.

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Speakers: Various Panelists

    Description:

    Panel Title: Navigating Change: Complexities and Community Responses

    In the face of significant shifts and evolving cultural narratives, how do individuals, communities, and corporations respond thoughtfully and meaningfully? This panel brings together diverse voices to explore the nuanced challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities presented by recent societal shifts. We’ll unpack the complexities often unseen by the general public, highlighting the variables and considerations organizations must navigate. The conversation aims to foster awareness and informed responses that can guide both personal actions and organizational strategies. We'll also consider how we can move forward constructively from our current moment, recognizing the cyclical nature of these societal shifts—how history often informs and repeats itself.

    • Tysonn Betts

    • Omari Souza 

    • Tish Jones

    • James C. Burroughs II

    • Chanda Smith-Baker, Moderator

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leader: Mister Drake aka The Mind of Milan  

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leader: Joelle Williams

    Description:

    SoBD’s Joelle Williams introduces and shares a brief biographical overview of our Keynote Speakers.

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Description:

    Keynote Experience: These Quilts Hold Our Dreams

    These quilts hold our histories, our memories—they remind us where we were at a specific point in time.

    Join us for a powerful, multi-dimensional storytelling experience featuring third-generation Gee’s Bend Quilters, a narrative storyteller, and a corporate or agency voice offering a unique lens into partnership and cultural legacy.

    This session honors the richness of Black history, creativity, and resistance—connecting the fabric of our collective past to the urgent conversations shaping design and community today. There is history in the seams—each stitch carrying testimony, remembrance, and resilience. From civil rights to voting rights, from quilting as ancestral memory to the pursuit of generational wealth, this keynote threads personal stories with broader truths. Together, we’ll explore how culture, commerce, and creativity intersect—and how intentional, community-rooted collaboration can carry our stories forward with power, purpose, and pride.

    • Gees Bend Quilting Collective: 

    • Delia Pettway Thibodeaux

    • Mary Margaret Pettway

    • Stella Mae Pettway

    • Cornel Beard

    • Dara Beevas

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leaders: Mister Drake aka The Mind of Milan  

    Vocalist Jasmine Arielle Barnes

  • Location: Main Stage- Auditorium-150

    Leaders: Omari Souza + The SoBD Team

    with Tracey Moore, Prairie View A&M University

    Description: SoBD founder, Omari Souza, returns to the stage joined by the Juneteenth SoBD Team to talk takeaways and next steps as we look ahead to the 2025 State of Black Design conference in October at Prairie View A&M University

  • All SoBD Guests | LOCATION TBD

    Description: Join us for this SoBD program tradition! Commemorate the program and create an archive of our growing SoBD community.

  • Location: Pimento On The Lake

    Description: Unwind at the lake with us!  Come early to enjoy some complimentary light bites, listen to some tunes, and connect more deeply with other members of our SoBD community.