During 2024 Miami Art Week, attendees experienced an art fair like never before at Art Basel. Curated in partnership with REVOLT, PRIZM presented the 12th edition of their art fair around the theme “Architecture of Liberation,” creating an opportunity for people to engage in visual art and panel discussions while celebrating the beauty of Africa and its diaspora in all its facets.

This collaboration kicked off a special moment for the founder and director of PRIZM, Mikhaile Solomon. After 11 years of successfully showcasing talented artists and their work, the PRIZM Art Fair was able to reach an even bigger audience and advocate that Black art is valuable and should be invested in all spaces. Showcasing 60 galleries that spark conversations around the Black narrative, this annual fair highlights a space for inclusivity in an industry where the art world tends to be more exclusionary.

In this exclusive interview, REVOLT spoke with Solomon about the partnership, the importance of investing in Black art and a valuable lesson in not convincing others to see your worth when you know it is a high price. Check out the chat below.

What inspired you to create the PRIZM Art Fair?

Well, I had a lot of friends in the creative and art space, at the time, who were not being shown at Basel, and arguably still are not. I was still in architecture school, and hearing people's gripes and difficulties with penetrating the art market and art world, particularly Black artists, made me want to do something about it. Having worked on other arts projects in Miami, those experiences informed my understanding about knowing when something that is well done is presented in a way where people can view art from Africa and the diaspora and still feel as though it is a world-class experience.

I think a lot of times people do not like to validate my work because I do not come from a traditional arts background. But I am a scholar, and I have taught at the university level. So, while I might not have an art practice background, architecture is an art practice. I think that sometimes the most compelling work comes from practitioners who do not have a very rigid arts background because they can see things from a different perspective and through a different lens. I think that that is what my expertise or my vision provides for the arts ecosystem. I was 27 when I started PRIZM. So, I was like, “I'm young enough. I have time. I might as well.” I found out that working for other people does not seem to be my calling. So, I thought I might as well use whatever creative skills I have to build a company that is focused on the arts, which is what I love.

What was the main takeaway that attendees should have gained when they experienced the PRIZM Art Fair?

I always try to make the fair and the messaging very intentional. So, intentionally Black. I want people to know that this is a Black fair, from the CEO to our PA team to everyone. Because there is nothing like this in the world. We have art fairs that are African-focused, but oftentimes the personnel are not Black. So, for me, [it is important] when other people of our hue come to the fair, they can see themselves not only in the work but in the personnel that are there managing the space. I love that PRIZM can be a meditative sacred space for Black people — akin to how I feel whenever I visit the continent of Africa.

I want people to feel like it is a safe space [and] see the artwork as a positive reflection of [themselves], because there is also a lot of artwork in the market that sort of still physically denigrates Black people. Or it has narratives that perpetuate the narrative around our slavery. And yes, that is an important part of our existence, but it is not all of it.

With this being its 12th annual fair, what has the evolution of PRIZM looked like for you?

What I have been endeavoring to do for the past 12 years is make sure that we select the best artists. I am just very particular about the work that we show. So, I have been fortunate to work with many people, with collaborators, and to see the work improve over the years. It is almost like I treat PRIZM as an ongoing thesis project. You know when you are writing your dissertation, you flush out all the details, you do more research, you meet more people and as things progress your dissertation becomes more crystallized. So that is what the evolution of PRIZM has been for me. If you go back several years to when I first started PRIZM, the work was strong. But as things have evolved, the work has become incredible. This past year, I outdid myself in terms of being able to partner with an organization like REVOLT and to be able to navigate that collaboration.

How did the partnership with REVOLT come about?

I met Andre [Woolery], the senior vice president of content and branding [at REVOLT] around 2012. There was an art fair in Harlem that I do not think exists anymore. But he was an artist at that art fair. I remember meeting him and coming across his work over the years and [in] different spaces. He reached out to me via LinkedIn earlier last year and said that he wanted to chat to see what I was doing during Miami Art Week. Then I learned that he had been coming to PRIZM for the past four or five years. So, we started talking about the partnership along the lines of [REVOLT] providing financial [and] event production support.

How integral was partnering with REVOLT to the PRIZM Art Fair’s reach for attendees?

I am super thankful for it. I am glad that we were able to find common ground. I have been doing this for 11 years and this year is going to be the tone-setter for what PRIZM will be going forward. One thing I love about the partnership with REVOLT is that the audience that it brings to PRIZM is an audience that is young and looking for interesting things to do and get involved in. I like that PRIZM can be that young demographic's introduction to the arts in a different way. So, I hope that [the] young folks that did come to PRIZM were able to experience it in a way that is like, “Oh, I want to do more of this,” or “I want to be more involved in the arts.”

I also think that having the partnership allowed us to probably have the best fair we have ever had. At the beginning of the fair, I walked outside, and the place was packed with people. There was a line wrapped around the corner and that has never happened in the history of the fair. Altogether, we had 10,000 RSVPs for this thing. I honestly wish this partnership had happened much earlier.

As a founder, what are some strategies you use when solidifying a successful partnership?

I think it is just consistency. Because I do not think Andre would have been compelled to reach out to me if I was not consistent in making the art fair what it is. There were years when I did not even want to do the fair. But my board was like, “Mikhaile, if you do not do the fair, you are gonna lose momentum.” So, I think consistency is a part of it. Black people have to prove themselves a lot more than other people do because I understand that my value as a practitioner in this space is high, but people will always try to undervalue me. So, getting very clear about your price when executing your vision is important too.

With PRIZM, we invest in our artists, and the fair must highlight those who do well in the market post-fair. Regardless of the partnership, we can also continue and sustainably provide that level of care to our artists.

Based on what you have learned from partnering with REVOLT, what do you hope for from other brands who are looking to support the Black art space in the future?

I mean, just do it, right? If you can put millions of dollars into the stuff that I see happening during Art Basel every year, then you can invest in the PRIZM Art Fair. This is a fair that has been around for 12 years successfully. Like, could you imagine if one of these liquor brands poured into an event like PRIZM? I have been able to do PRIZM for 11 years without a million-dollar budget. My budget every year is no more than $400,000. So, [with] as small a budget as I have and still [making] it an impactful organization, what would happen if I got the right investment?

If brands want to actually invest in me and the organization, they simply should because it is already a successful fair. It would be even more successful, and it could have a greater impact with the right brands’ financial support.

From your experience, why is it important for more brands to support more organizations within the Black art space?

I am not in the business of convincing brands why they should or should not invest in Black or multicultural programming or events. Because they know they should be doing it. Black people are a part of our society and our global community. It is to their benefit to be speaking to our audience. So as much as I want the money to be able to produce my event, I would prefer someone like Andre. He came to me because he saw the value in what we were doing. It is not about convincing. You see that there are people in the space that are doing work that benefits not just the Black community but also exposes our larger human community to an understanding of different cultures. That is what we bring to spaces because none of us are operating in a bubble. We all have a shared human experience. Those dollars are more about reaching demographics that they do not know how to tap into, but we do.

What advice do you have for other Black creatives who are looking for the right brand partnership?

Even though REVOLT was an opportunity that was presented to me, I have diligently reached out to several brands in the past. But I find that the ones that I reach out to have failed. So, I think it is a balance between reaching out to folks and accepting folks reaching out to you.

I have never had to oversell what I am doing to people. The people who see the value of your work are those relationships that are gold. Those are the relationships that I have had for years. Sometimes it is not about chasing the brands. It is about who is coming to you. You are the talent, and you are the one who has the skill. So, I think that is where artists should put their energy — into people who see their value.