Charcoal is a multimedia collective dedicated to
showcasing young creatives of color and their stories.

Charcoal celebrates young POC creatives and explores the intersections of identity and art. A publication based in Boston, MA, Charcoal features live, visual, and written content created by young artists of color throughout its varying platforms.

Charcoal Magazine is published by the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground.

Enter Mirrors, Charcoal Magazine's first printed issue. We often say that Charcoal is a labor of love, and that is loudly and eloquently represented throughout every page of that book. Intentional and consistent hard work at the BUild Lab by our founders laid the foundations of Charcoal. With the assistance of former Howard Thurman Center (HTC) Assistant Director of Arts and Programs, Shari Tumandao, the team introduced Charcoal into the hearts of POC students across BU. At that moment, a rebellion began. It challenged the revolutionary idea on whether people of color deserved a space to be expressive, creative, and ambitious. It challenged whether we can create tangible work and support one another while communing at a common ground.

Charcoal has continued to evolve since then. Despite any circumstances encountered, we published our first online-only issue, Echo, and numerous paper issues thereafter. We repurposed our storytelling style to focus on long narratives that continue to embrace nuanced, artistic expression, as seen in our more recent issues like Ego Death and Return. Nonetheless, throughout that season we launched our online publication–handing the lights, cameras, and mics to our community’s storytellers to be seen and heard.

With the support of the HTC's Director and Associate Director, Katherine Kennedy and Nick Bates, respectively, Charcoal has been able to expand our community in quantity and quality. Whether we had 30 people gathered in the basement of the George Sherman Union during the release of our second issue, Sweet, or over 400 people within the Howard Thurman Center to watch our SS'22 Fashion Show and attend the Return Launch Party, community care has always been our top priority. This community considers us all– every single individual who works in, shares, or interacts with our space. Amongst students, staff, and faculty alike, we all believe in the idea of Charcoal.

If you take anything away from this concept, let it be that. Respect that you will always need a community to mutually thrive in, but understand that this community does not have to always be Charcoal. Let this publication teach you how vital community is, how to build it, how to nurture it, and how to trust it. Let this publication teach you how to build something that meets your needs and share that entity with others. Let this publication light an endless fire within you.