HBC430 is a Black woman founded and led communications and research firm based in New Orleans, serving the South and beyond. We support artists, organizers, and institutions with strategy, structure, and story.
Our work is centered in justice, shaped by experience, and guided by purpose.
Art, Justice + Story
Communications. Research. Creative Strategy. Purposeful Work. Strategic Design.
We operate where story meets structure. Whether developing a campaign, refining internal communications, or launching a community-driven project, we design strategies that are intentional, grounded, and built to last.
Our approach is informed by lived experience, collaborative research, and the use of art as a tool for inquiry. We partner with those reshaping systems, deepening public understanding, and creating lasting impact.
Our Work @ HBC430
At HBC430 Creative Programs and Consulting, our services are organized around three core principles: Dream, Memory, and Vision. Each one represents a mode of working, a way of knowing, and a path forward.
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Memory is a practice of protecting our histories, our knowledge, and the truth of what our communities have lived. We document lived experience as data through interviews, collective storytelling, and research rooted in trust and consent. Our work centers the community as the author of its own narrative. We help people gather and organize what they know, name what they have carried, and create archives that belong to them. These archives support organizing, legal strategy, cultural education, and continuity across generations.
Services include:
• Oral history and documentation consulting
• Ethical data collection through community storytelling
• Support for participatory research rooted in performance
MEMORY
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DREAM
Dream is the work of shaping how a story is told. We help people and organizations communicate with clarity, purpose, and confidence. Our work supports the development of narratives that reflect lived experience, align with community values, and move people to action. We design messages, campaigns, and brand identities that are coherent, compelling, and rooted in truth. Dream strengthens the communications infrastructure that allows a project to grow and be understood.
Services include:
• Communications and narrative strategy
• Message design for campaigns and initiatives
• Branding and identity planning for socially engaged projects
• Public speaking and facilitation on storytelling as strategy
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VISION
Vision is the work of making direction clear. We help teams, entrepreneurs, and collectives define what they are building, why it matters, and how it will function. Our approach brings people into conversation with their purpose, their community, and their goals. We guide groups through strategy development, collaborative planning, and creative problem solving so that their work is grounded, coherent, and actionable. Vision supports people in building structures that can grow, sustain, and respond to the needs of those they serve.
Services include:
• Vision planning for ventures and collectives
• Creative ideation and facilitation for new projects
• Thought partnership for entrepreneurs and organizations
• Training cohorts on strategy, planning, and leadership rooted in community needs
Maryam Fatima Foye
Founder + Principal Consultant
Maryam Fatima Foye is an award-winning artist, producer, and founder of HBC430 Creative Programs and Consulting, known for her work at the intersection of theater, research, and community transformation. For nearly two decades, she has led initiatives that advance equity and cultural integrity through performance-based storytelling and strategic communications.
As the creator of Instinctive Theater, an arts-integrated research methodology, Maryam has trained artists and researchers across the U.S., South Africa, Senegal, and the United Kingdom in participatory approaches to performance and data collection. Her methodology has been featured in festivals, universities, and convenings that center liberation, truth-telling, and collective power.
From 2016 to 2019, Maryam founded and directed The Den Reading Room and Artist Exchange, an incubator that produced over 120 workshops and performances and supported more than 60 creative entrepreneurs of color. The Den became a celebrated hub for citizen artists and independent cultural workers building sustainable practices. She also created TribeFestDC, a multi-day artist-led convening funded by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Department of Small and Local Business Development. The festival brought together artists, organizers, and public agencies to design solutions for social change and inspired a generation of local creative activism in the nation’s capital.
Her consulting work through HBC430 has guided grassroots collectives, educational institutions, and cultural organizations in strategy, storytelling, and research ethics. Clients have included The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, NeighborWorks America, Tulane University, the South African State Theater, and the Senegalese Forum Theater Festival. Her work has been recognized by FOX News’ Hometown Hero Award, KRA Corporation’s Black Excellence Award, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for both performance and festival design.
Maryam’s creative and research practice reflects a lifelong commitment to self-determined storytelling and community-centered innovation. She is based in New Orleans and serves clients across the South and
internationally.
