COLORFUL 2024 Grant Program for Young BIPOC Creatives Opens

The One Club for Creativity announced the 2024 launch of COLORFUL, a grant program connected to the upcoming Young Guns 22 competition to help young BIPOC creatives around the world advance their careers.

There is no fee to apply for the grant, which is open globally to BIPOC creatives who qualify for the club’s prestigious Young Guns program: they must be aged 30 years and under with at least two years of professional creative experience. Past YG winners are not eligible.

Candidates submit links to six projects in their portfolio, as well as a short essay and a 60-second phone or webcam video to introduce themselves and describe their dream creative project. Deadline for the free COLORFUL application is June 27, 2024, winners will be announced in July.

A jury of BIPOC creative luminaries, many of them past YG winners, will review submissions and select one gifted entrant to receive the first-place grant of $3,000 towards a personal creative project of their choosing. Runner up will receive a $2,000 grant, and two third-place winners each receive $1,000.

In addition, COLORFUL finalists receive free entry into Young Guns 22, as will the first 10 qualifying candidates to enter when the COLORFUL competition opens.

Branding for this year’s program was created by Brooklyn-based freelance designer Ritesh Gupta, who is also founder of Useful School, a pay-what-you-can program for BIPOC designers to improve their practical skills and better navigate the industry.

“This year we partnered with The Useful School, which is something Ritesh and I have been talking about for a long time,” said COLORFUL cofounder Rich Tu, ECD, partner at Sunday Afternoon New York, a YG8 winner, and host of the "First Generation Burden" podcast. “Over the past three years, COLORFUL has seen its winners reach wild heights – including the Oscars – and this year will be no different. Our goal is to keep opening doors, and it’s a great honour to see young creatives benefit from our effort.”

Sunday Afternoon, a female and minority-owned creative studio, will also offer one COLORFUL applicant 12 months of mentorship from its leadership team of Tu, Juan Carlos Pagan, Ahmed Klink, and Audrie Poole. The lucky recipient will connect with the Sunday Afternoon team to help support their creative growth and goals.

COLORFUL is an example of The One Club’s ongoing global nonprofit commitment to push DEI forward in advertising and design. Other initiatives include the annual Where Are All The Black People diversity conference and career fair; global Creative Boot Camps and mentorship programs for diverse college students and other young creatives; ONE School, the groundbreaking free portfolio program for Black creatives in the US and UK; and others.

In 2021, The One Club also introduced The One Show Fusion Pencil and ADC Annudrudal Awards Fusion Cube, the advertising and design industry’s first global awards to recognize great work that best incorporates DEI principles, and underrepresented groups in both creative content and the team that made it.

For more information and to apply, please visit the COLORFUL website.