unapologetically B.L.A.C.K

Black Liberation thru

Arts, Culture, & Knowledge

Noir Collective AVL, a Black-owned boutique, art gallery, and bookstore featuring Black entrepreneurs, is located on “The Block” within the retail spaces of YMI Cultural Center, one of the oldest operating African American cultural centers in the United States. 

With YMI as the hub, “The Block” was a thriving Black business district within one of Asheville’s Black communities, East End / Valley Street neighborhood.

And like many Black neighborhoods that thrived during Jim Crow South, this neighborhood, along with others in Asheville and around the country, was devastated by programs like Urban Renewal.

While we cannot change the past, we can look forward to an inclusive future.

39. S Market Street Suite C

828.484.2323

noircollectiveavl@gmail.com

Open: Tuesdays by appointment

Wednesday–Saturday 11am–6ish

“I think that the reason that I really wanted to do AI is because our kids need creative capacity… I needed a tool. I can’t draw. If I had a tool like this to expand my mind… We need something to innovate our community. My art is about innovation, is about transcending. All I’m about is representation. Where can you go and find Black art. This the only place you can go and find representation.”

                                           ~ Chasity Leake

We come from a family
of entrepreneurs

Ajax, age 20, started their first small business at age six. From hand stamped tee shirts and handmade swing skirts to selling lollipops at the local flea market, they’ve had a knack for business! They’ve also been publicly sharing their creative projects from a young age. Ajax grew up in a Montessori school, founded by their mom, and have learned best in collaborative environments, where differences can thrive and whole communities can learn from one another.

alexandria is a native New Yorker who moved to the South, her parents’ birthplace and decided to make a difference in the lives of women. She opened a women’s empowerment bookstore and then an art gallery for underground artists located in the heart of the White elite district of Broad Street, the line her grandmother warned her not to cross during childhood visits. Six years later, observing the need for quality education for families like hers, alexandria founded a Montessori school which she directed for 16 years. alexandria moved to Western NC in 2015 and is inspired by her young adult children, both of whom are also entrepreneurs.