Instagram’s @design, in Partnership With Brooklyn Museum, Launches $130,000 #BlackDesignVisionaries Grant Program to Empower Black Designers

The inaugural #BlackDesignVisionaries grant program, presented by Instagram’s @design, in partnership with the Brooklyn Museum, is an effort to empower, center and invest in the Black design community. With a mission to create a space that is inclusive, safe and inspiring for all, @design aims to uplift aspiring and emerging Black designers whose work embodies Instagram’s design values, including the belief that everyone is worthy of great design.

#BlackDesignVisionaries will award three Aspiring Designer Grants, each worth $10,000, to Black designers between the ages of 18 and 30. One $100,000 Small Business Grant will also be awarded to a small Black-led design business no more than 10 years into its practice.

Applications are open now through July 16 (at 11:59 pm EDT) and will be reviewed by a committee of trailblazing Black designers and design thought leaders, whose disciplines include fashion, interiors, urban planning, architecture and graphic design. The committee is led by Antwaun Sargent, writer, curator and author of The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion, who recently joined Gagosian Gallery as a director. Together, their work is representative of the transformative contributions Black designers have made across design fields throughout history. The full grant committee includes:

Justina Blakeney, Founder and Creative Director of Jungalow
Ruth E. Carter, Oscar-winning Costume Designer
Toni L. Griffin, Founder of urbanAC, Professor in Practice at Harvard Graduate School of Design and Director of The Just City Lab
Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Associate Professor at Harvard University and Founder of the Vision & Justice Project
Rick Lowe, Artist, Professor at the University of Houston
Bobby C. Martin Jr., Co-Founder of Champions Design
Heron Preston, Artist and Designer
Ian Spalter, Head of Instagram Japan
Asad Syrkett, Editor in Chief, ELLE Décor

Antwaun Sargent, Grant Committee Lead: “I am delighted to be helping lead #BlackDesignVisionaries. Design can be a source of empowerment and futurity. But in order for that to happen it needs to be more inclusive. Design affects us all and it is important that Black designers have opportunities to help shape our notions of the world by designing what the world can do and be. So, if you are a designer, aspiring or seasoned, please apply with your ideas of what design can be in Black communities.”

Ian Spalter, who served as Instagram’s Head of Design for more than four years: “@design is committed to uplifting underrepresented voices and championing inclusivity and accessibility, which is why we’re delighted to launch #BlackDesignVisionaries. We hope that the craft, passion, and creativity of our grant committee and partners, as well as Instagram’s design values, will inspire designers to share their dreams with us.”

Laval Bryant-Quigley, Brooklyn Museum Director of Marketing: “Black culture and talent have a monumental influence in the design world, yet are often overlooked and undervalued. Our exhibitions and programs seek to engage audiences by uplifting the often underrepresented stories and narratives of art history. We’re proud to partner with Instagram’s @design to create more inclusive opportunities to amplify more diverse voices in design.”

Each grant recipient will receive one year of personalized mentorship, with regular check-ins and advice from a small team of mentors, chosen with the support of the grant committee and @design’s three partner organizations.

To develop #BlackDesignVisionaries, @design collaborated closely with three groundbreaking, Black-led organizations: Chicago Mobile Makers empowers youth to become change makers through design-focused skill-building workshops; The Hidden Genius Project offers training and mentorship for Black male youth in technology creation and entrepreneurship; and Inneract Project empowers Black, Latinx and other underrepresented students of color to access design education. All three groups have been creating community and career pathways for young Black designers, and advocating for greater representation within the fields of professional design.

It is only recently that the capitalization of the “B” in “Black” has been widely adopted, a long overdue stylistic change to recognize the difference between a culture and a color. To develop the visual design for #BlackDesignVisionaries, Toni Coleman and Frances Smith, who are designers and community leaders at Instagram, used a “capital B” as the foundation to declare a shared identity and design community worthy of elevation and celebration. The design focuses on a question that has been circulating within the design world, led by advocates like Mitzi Okou: “Where are the Black designers?” Coleman and Smith’s answer: “We’re here.”

The #BlackDesignVisionaries Aspiring Designer Grants and Small Business Grant are open for submissions from the US. Entries are free of charge and must be submitted by July 16th at 11:59 pm EDT. The shortlist will be announced in Fall 2021.

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About the Author

Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.