Juror Feature: Phillip Michael Collins

I am a Tennessee native who has had a strong wanderlust to find what it means to be a global citizen. After graduating from Elon University in International Marketing, I left the US for 10 years to live and work between Brazil, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. I helped shape global product, entertainment, and art and design campaigns at major brands including American Express, Ford, GE, Disney and UBS. I have experience working within brand strategy, PR, talent management, experiential marketing, and social media.

Now, I would say that I’m a marketer turned art collector turned art entrepreneur. After an extended period of introspection and observation within my communities, I founded Good Black Art—a platform that invests in emerging Black artists from the onset of their careers, creating an ecosystem that offers access to sales and collaborations, exhibitions and media opportunities. I work to foster an environment that empowers people, and I lead the first global e-commerce platform for emerging Black talent in the arts space, which presents quality art from quality artists.

Fresh off the plane, I met up with my art brother Thomas E. Moore III (Director of Development at National Academy of Design) for a Sip and Paint event hosted by artist Derrick Adams at Soho House.

On our way to Kavi Gupta Galley’s Art Basel party at Red Rooster, we bumped into our New York Art fam! L to R: Phillip Collins (Founder of Good Black Art), Alessandro Cocco, Lexi Moore, Thomas E. Moore III (Director of Development at National Academy of Design), Chinaedu E. Nwadibia (artist), Cierra Britton (Founder and Director Cierra Britton Gallery), Storm Ascher (Founder Superposition Gallery) and Daria Simone Harper (art/culture writer).

This was a very proud moment. Jewel Ham, a Good Black Alumni, was the first artist on our platform to make it to the Convention Center and show at Art Basel. Featured in Jeffrey Deitch’s exhibition GODDESS, Jewel showed alongside Bisa Butler, Kennedy Yanko and many other superstars in the art world.

Everybody knows I love a link-up! This one was very special. After years of following Tennessee based artist Rahn Marion on Instagram, we finally got the chance to meet at NADA (New Art Dealer Association) Miami Fair. His presentation with TONE was outstanding and it was great to see my home state represented in Miami.

And last but not least, moderating an American Express panel with the industry greats Sebrena Khadjia (artist), Hannah Traore (Founder of Hannah Traore Gallery) and Everette Taylor (former CMO of Artsy and now CEO of Kickstarter) was too good. One year ago I was behind the scenes producing Amex events. Now I’m the talent on stage at their events. What a difference a year can make when you are driven by your passion!