Cincinnati will remain the host city for Black Tech Week after organizers put out to bid the conference’s location for 2024.
A formal announcement is pending, but Candice Matthews Brackeen, CEO of Lightship Foundation, confirmed the decision to Cincy Inno. She said, like any other business, the team opted to put out a national competitive bid in order to generate the most compelling response from state and local collaborators.
She declined to disclose how many cities submitted proposals, and it’s unclear if any incentives were involved.
Cincinnati has been a phenomenal partner, she added. Black Tech Week, founded in 2015 in Miami, celebrated its second year in the Queen City in July, drawing more than 3,000 attendees from across the country and globe.
This year's conference headcount more than doubled from 2022, when the event generated an estimated $7.8 million economic impact, according to the nonprofit. Numbers from 2023 have yet to be released.
Black Tech Week has not yet publicly announced conference dates for 2024, although a sponsorship drive is open and underway.
Organizers are expected to hold a news conference later this month.
Lightship Foundation, a nonprofit economic development organization, successfully acquired Black Tech Week, a minority tech ecosystem-building festival, from its original founders, Felecia Hatcher and husband Derick Pearson in March 2022. Black Tech Week relocated to Over-the-Rhine and Music Hall that July.
The event features curated social events and startup growth-focused programming tailored to founders of color, women, disabled and LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. This year's event featured more than 50 workshops and 100 speakers, including a keynote address from actress, writer and producer Issa Rae, best known for her HBO series "Insecure.”
The brand in October expanded with its first spin-off Black Tech Weekend in Detroit, considered an abbreviated version of the main Black Tech Week conference.
"Black Tech Week is a celebration of the Black excellence we see every day," Matthews Brackeen said in a news release. "Lightship works hard to make Black Tech Week a space and time for our community to connect, recharge and reset."
