Art of Noyz is an Afrocentric outreach ministry that nurtures creativity, conflict resolution, and collective achievement in Chicago’s African American community.
Our mission is to nurture the African American community through an Afrocentric approach to violence reduction. We meet residents where they are and draw on history, spirituality, culture, and creative expression to strengthen community.
Art of Noyz calls these places of connection “urban quilombos”: spaces where neighbors can find belonging, dialogue, healing, and collective possibility.
A community where sacred spaces reach beyond building walls, people recognize the greatness already around them, and neighbors work together to create safer places to live and grow.
Ubuntu—“I can, because we are”—grounds a vision of creative expression, historical remembrance, and collective achievement.
Rev. Dr. Barclay is an ordained United Church of Christ minister and longtime martial arts practitioner. His studies in psychology, divinity, and African religious thought inform a vision for peace through movement, teamwork, and collective achievement.
Art of Noyz brings that vision outside traditional walls through the arts, sporting events, entrepreneurship, building trades, college readiness, and returning citizens programming.
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