Brooklyn Museum and Instagram announce recipients of grant program

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
Nov 5, 2021

The Brooklyn Museum and @design, an official account by Instagram dedicated to celebrating the craft and creativity of the design community, have announced the five recipients of the inaugural #BlackDesignVisionaries grant program. 

The grant program, which aims to center and invest in rising Black designers and Black-led design businesses who offer experimental expressions of Black culture with a powerful vision, will award $205,000 in total to the recipients. 

Moreover, each recipient will be connected with a team of mentors selected by the grant committee and the program’s esteemed partners, Chicago Mobile Makers, Inneract Project, and the Hidden Genius Project.

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They include fashion design house Head of State, taking home the $100,000 Visionary Small Business Grant and graphic design studio Morcos Key, awarded the $75,000 Impact Grant. Finally, spatial designer Dominique Petit-Frère, type designer Tré Seals, and designer and art director Sablā Stays have each been awarded a $10,000 Aspiring Designer Grant, respectively.

The committee was led by writer and curator Antwaun Sargent and including Ruth E. Carter, Justina Blakeney, Toni L. Griffin, Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, Rick Lowe, Bobby C. Martin Jr, Heron Preston, Ian Spalter, and Asad Syrkett.

“I’m overwhelmed by the quality of submissions and the ways in which these designers are thinking about the world,” said Sargent. 

“A grant like this could mean limitless possibilities, providing an opportunity to those who do not have access to traditional pathways into spaces such as art and design. We all live in this world; we all have to navigate this world. When we have those different perspectives, we all benefit.”