Educator, community artist and organizer, Omari Fox, has a 25-year history of civic engagement, classroom expertise, and cultural arts campaign experience, which continues to evolve. As a graduate of both South Carolina State University, trained in Sociology, and Benedict College, trained in Art Education, Omari brings a unique lens of creative consciousness to the important work of community relationship- building.
First thrust into the spotlight of community organization as an art education major and President of the Benedict College Art Intelligentsia (BCARTI), Fox used his early experiences at Benedict as a proving ground. While honing his skills at Benedict, Fox developed the use of transformative and creative language, visual imagery, and engagement with forming emotional and social connections, all in order to shape group awareness and consciousness. These strategies allowed Omari to develop a vision for community interaction, strategic collaborations, and collective work that could assure the paths to empowerment for disenfranchised peoples as cultural workers.
An advocate for the dignity and humanity of marginalized communities, Omari believes that community engagement, achieved through the sharing of our collective gifts and talents is a key ingredient to assure neighborhood service and inter- as-well-as intra-community connections. The resumé stretches from the Uphill Crew back in the hip-hop days of the Bronx, to art training at Fiorello Laguardia High School, better known as “FAME HS” all the way through co founding the first official #blacklivesmatter chapter in Columbia, SC through the South Carolina Progressive Network and most recently the Envision I’Mpossible outreach efforts in the North Columbia 29203 zip code addressing poverty, crime, food insecurity, and housing.
Omari is the proud son of the late Allan and the late Barbara Fox, who both transitioned in September of 2018.