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Female Design Council is Offering Up Two $2,500 Grants to Black Womxn Designers

The deadline to apply has just been extended to December 31st, 2020

By Allison Fonder - November 9, 2020

in Grants | Scholarships | Social Impact

The Female Design Council, a leadership organization offering support to womxn designers, is offering up an exciting $2,500 grant opportunity to two black womxn designers.

It's no secret that the design world needs more room for industry-leading designers who are women, but this rings especially true for Black womxn designers. According to AIGA's 2019 Design Census for graphic designers alone, while about 61% of the industry's designers are womxn (it should be noted this includes the 0.7% and below in the industry who are non-binary, trans, etc.), only 3% of working designers today are Black.

For the Female Design Council, the need to support women POC designers became more clear than ever in 2020. "I decided to create the FDC grant series after digging in with our community during the height of the BLM reverberation," Lora Appleton, founder of Female Design Council and New York based design gallery kinder MODERN told Core77. "I felt that providing direct financial support for the creative ideas of Black womxn, who are often underrepresented in design, was a great way to engage more WOC in our field."

The Female Design Council Grants amounts to two $2,500 USD financial grants, and is open to Black womxn-led design studios or individuals in order to provide emerging designers with assistance in bringing a specific idea into prototyping and production.

Here are some of the eligibility requirements to consider:

- Open to designers aged 18+ - Designers must be working or residing within the United States - Applicants must be able to receive taxable income in the United States regardless of their citizenship status - Applications open September 24, 2020 and will close December 31, 2020 - You may not apply if you have received a grant in the last six months

According to FDC's website, your application can be sent to grant@femaledesigncouncil.org and must include:

- Project Title - Project Category: furniture, lighting, ceramics, textiles & rugs, wall works(mirrors, shelves) - Description of Project - A portfolio of 2-4 examples of your work - A letter of purpose which states why the design grant is important to you now and how it will impact your work - Outline of how funds will be used - Supporting materials/ images

You can learn more about Female Design Council's Grant on their website.

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ManbatWayne MIlton

4 years ago

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"Male Design Council is Offering Up Two $2,500 Grants to White Men Designers" See how sexist and racist this article is.

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- Emily R. Pellerin
  
  ManbatWayne MIlton
  
  4 years ago
  
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  That criticism is misplaced. White male support is the default / the given for our industry (and country, etc.). There is nothing sexist about supporting woman-identified people and nothing racist about supporting POC.
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- Dale Mason
  
  ManbatWayne MIlton
  
  4 years ago
  
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  Ok sure lets go there and promote racism in the design community with backwards thinking -beyond comprehension in this day and age. Why not promote Asians? Indians and lets not forget about the plight of discriminated against white women ? See where this is going ? you may positive intentions however your council gets an F for thought and execution #clueless
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  - Emily R. Pellerin
    
    Dale Mason
    
    4 years ago
    
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    Z
    
    i understand what you're saying, though i do not agree with it. from these comments, it doesn't feel like you understand "racism." it is not applicable here b/c the structure of supremacy/superiority is not existent in the context of what this grant offers. "promoting racism" is moot here. exclusion is one thing, and yes, this is an exclusive offer. it is targeted toward a specific population in order to support them, because they (Black women designers) have not always had the same systems of support to develop careers of the same caliber that white designers have had. it's about capital and community etc. for your reference, the female design council (as well as its upcoming endeavors, akin to this grant) actively promotes womxn- identifying POC on the whole, which includes Asian womxn (including Indian/East/South Asian), Native American, and more.
    
    responding to the "plight" of women at large is the whole purpose of the organization... appreciate your acknowledgement of the FDC's positive intentions. as we both know, though, impact is what's actually measurable.
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