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Source: Mondadori Portfolio / Getty

Solange’s platform Saint Heron is introducing its next phase as a cultural institution. The platform was initially launched in 2013 as a hub for music, arts and cultural conversations for the Black community, where Black creators would have control of their own narrative.

Today, Saint Heron announced how the company plans to expand and pivot into a multidisciplinary platform, studio and creative agency with a continued mission to preserve, collect and uplift the stories, works, and archives that amplify vital voices within communities. The company aims to build spaces that engage radical conversation and conceptual imagining across art, design, architecture, fashion and literature.

Saint Heron is also slated to launch its dossier with literary and visual retrospectives of radical family and artist’ lineages via the upgraded site. Each piece will exist for the span of 7 to 10 days and provide an in-depth exploration of emerging talent and pioneering artists, sculptors, photographers, designers, and artisans. The first digital installation shares the story of Saint Heron, as told by Solange Knowles, its founder, creative director and art director.

In the near future, art and history lovers can expect the platform to share American visual artist and sculptor, best-selling novelist and award-winning poet Barbara Chase-Riboud’s career exploration in conversation with award-winning author and educator , Ilyasah Shabazz. Readers can also look forward to interviews with Shala Monroque and artist Cassi Namoda, a conversation between Helga Davis and Okwui Okpokwasili, and archives from Womack & Womack and Composer Charles Stepney.

A digital dossier is only the first of many exciting projects from the revamped Saint Heron platform. There will be a series of gallery exhibitions and installations, an artist in residence programme, a non-profit library offering free access to Saint Heron’s archived collection, an in-house line of home and fashion collectibles, unique brand collaborations, experimental art film releases and special music projects via Saint Records. Though Knowles didn’t promise new music of her own, Saint Heron has plans to share a plethora of art in every form.

The platform will also build their Gallery, Small Matter. Small Matter will explore futurism design as a form of cultural expression. These works range from large and small scale functional sculptures, architectural objects, furniture collection, lighting design, garments, and more. Many of the designs will be designed by Solange herself, while others are designs from collaborators like architect-designer Jerome Byron and Saint Heron’s own Product Development Consultant, Mark Grattan.

Saint Heron will also continue its activism work with the Saint Heron Holism Project, an initiative built to bring holistic therapeutic healing and support to women, girls and communities of color.

When Solange was asked about the next phase of Saint Heron, she answered, “World-making has been a huge part of my practice. The idea of leaving behind cities, meccas, and universes that were occupied and celebrated by bodies, voices, celebrations and rituals to be discovered down the line. As we transition to an institution, the answer and the vision become abundantly clear. We are creating a legacy where we not only continue the work we have already built, but preserve collections of creators with the urgency they deserve.”

Saint Heron built its legacy over the last decade by creating a series of special projects and thoughtfully curated events and art experiences in collaboration with a number of companies like The Met, Parson School of Art & Design, Nike, and Google.

Solange further explained Saint Heron’s newly expanded mission, “together we want to create an archive of stories, and works we deem valuable. We want to open up these works publicly, and make them accessible to students, and our communities for research, engagement, and consumption so that the works are integrated into our collective story and belong and grow with us. We are creating an embodiment of living testaments to the glory of expression, and how that recharges and reaffirms the reverence we hold for our own cultural and artistic worth. We look forward to furthering the pursuit of authenticity that empowers the stories of our people.”

Congrats Saint Heron for continuing to preserve Black art and culture and expanding the vision to even greater heights. Look out for more from Saint Heron by visiting and staying up to date on their website.