B Corps Bring Sustainability and Impact to Miami Art Week

Business Leaders, Industry Experts, and Creatives Gather at Art Basel Event

This article is a personal perspective from employees at B Lab, the nonprofit behind Certified B Corporations. In this series, we invite B Lab employees to share their experiences, inspiration, hopes, and challenges as they work toward a more inclusive and regenerative world. This edition of B Lab Voices is from João Campos, Large Company Growth Manager at B Lab U.S. & Canada, and Kemi Oritsejafor, Special Projects Manager at B Lab U.S. & Canada.

Last month, B Lab U.S. & Canada landed in South Florida for our first activation during Miami Art Week. We partnered with Florida For Good, an independent organization of local Certified B Corporations and supporters of our movement, to bring together business leaders, industry experts, journalists, and creatives for The World Is On Its Side: an Art Basel and Miami Art Week Sustainability and Impact Kick-Off. This event encompassed panels, workshops, and a happy hour sponsored by B Corp 818 Tequila to highlight the leading work of B Corps in the art, media, and culture fields as well as inspire these industries to prioritize people and the planet.

Art Basel at Miami Beach is not an event known for its sustainable bona fides — in fact, the sight of the enormous, temperature-controlled pavilions on the immediate beachfront was a stark reminder of the energy and material consumption necessary for such a large-scale event. Beyond this week, the global art production industry has an inherent impact on the environment and people, creating an estimated 70 million tons of CO2 emissions yearly. Given the important role that art plays in shaping cultural conversations and consumer preferences, it is ever more important that the industry focuses on social and environmental impact. Many companies are already doing so — like MIO Culture, a sustainable design B Corp and one of the event’s panelists — but many more do not know how to measure and improve their impact, and that’s where B Corp Certification comes in.

Kemi Oritsejafor, Special Projects Manager at B Lab U.S. & Canada, speaks at an Art Basel event in Miami Beach.

As this activation took place at the end of 2024, it allowed us to look back and reflect on a year marked by disruptions and anxieties. “The World Is On Its Side” is a direct translation of the Yoruba word Ayed’egbe, which names a common African textile print characterized by repeated patterns of triangles and dots. This phrase not only reflects the complex social, economic, and political environment we’re in but also honors the impact art — especially when produced by Indigenous and marginalized communities — plays in creating change. For B Lab, this year included a focus on deeper engagement with our communities, as we aimed to coalesce people around the idea that social and environmental impact is a collective endeavor.

Bringing the B Corp movement to Miami Art Week was a way to help artists, creatives, and business leaders turn their concern for social and environmental issues into action. There we introduced them to the B Impact Assessment as a free online tool to measure their impact, compare it to peers, and aim for continuous improvement. Throughout the day, we learned how to embed circularity principles into art production, heard from a fashion designer moving away from traditional bi-yearly collections, and explored how creatives and business leaders should incorporate impact into decision-making. The content sessions were only one portion of our event, though, as attendees enjoyed creating new connections with creative peers during the happy hour.

The World Is On Its Side was only the beginning of B Lab U.S. & Canada’s deeper engagement with the art industry. This event came out of the need to address the major impact of the creative fields within the B Corp community and the economy as a whole. We are thrilled to have received such a warm reception in Miami, from a feature on Forbes to an invitation to present at Impact Hub’s Re:Generate event. We hope the Miami Art Week audience walked away feeling more inspired than ever to begin their impact journey in the new year. As 2025 begins to unfold, we are feeling inspired to continue engaging with art, media, and culture professionals to create a stakeholder-driven economic model focused on racial equity and climate justice. 

Whether you were able to join us in Miami or not, we invite you to create an account on the B Impact Assessment to begin measuring and improving your company’s impact today.

Thank you to all the partners, sponsors, and speakers who helped make this event a reality: Florida For Good, Climate First Bank, 818 Tequila, Oluwakemi Oritsejafor, João Campos, Neil Ramsey, Annette Felder, Jaime Salm, Veronica Pesantes, Serena Andras, and Susan Caraballo.