$650,000 in grants available to black artists, designers and small businesses
Instagram is partnering with the Brooklyn Museum to launch the 2022 #BlackVisionaries program for the first time to provide $650,000 grants to black artists, designers and small businesses.
This year’s round invites 10 innovators to receive seed funding. This includes five small business grants with a $100,000 vision for black designers. Five start-up visual grants worth $30,000—supported by Meta Open Arts—will be for people focused on art and design in the United States.
According to a press release, “It’s an effort to empower, focus, and invest in aspiring black voices in art and design.” However, those seeking funding need to act soon. Applications for the scholarship have already been opened and are due online before July 29. To be eligible, you must be between 18 and 35 years old. Small businesses or technical institutions must be less than 10 years old.
Antoine SargentA writer, curator, and creative head of the #BlackVisionaries initiative stated, “Most people who don’t have traditional paths in spaces like art and design just need an opportunity. A scholarship like this can mean a world of opportunity.”
Funding can be beneficial. For example, minority businesses often lack the capital and other resources to start or expand. Data shows that black entrepreneurs earned just 1.2% of the “record $137 billion” invested in US startups in the first half of 2021.
Instagram and the Brooklyn Museum will mentor each grant recipient with Mobile Makers, a non-profit organization that offers design and skills building workshops for young people in Chicago and Boston communities. Those awarded scholarships will be selected by a panel of artists and designers led by Sargent.
Sargent, too, is part of a panel of artists and designers who will select the grantees, according to World News Era. She indicated that the committee will include il decor Editor in Chief Circuit lionOscar-winning fashion designer Ruth CarterInstagram Head of Design Ian Spalter.
The #BlackVisionaries scholarship program is now in its third year. Grants were given last year to five black designers and small black-led businesses, totaling $205,000.
Meta counts Instagram and Facebook among its holdings.
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