Adobe Creativity Grants: Fostering Creativity Among the Next Generation
In 2018, TakingITGlobal partnered with Adobe to launch the Adobe Creativity Grants, and in just one year we’ve already supported creative youth development organizations across the globe in reaching 925,000 youth!
Today, we’re pleased to announce that applications for the 2020 Adobe Creativity Grants are now officially open!
The 2019 Adobe Creativity Grants combined the Adobe Creative Cloud Donation Program with several monetary grants: the Creative Catalyst Award & Innovation Grant, Project & Collaboration Grant, and the Hardware Grant. These grants were designed to assist creative youth organizations in building upon their existing programming. The focus of these grants was to provide young people spaces and opportunities to develop and grow their creative, technical, and cognitive skills for success in school, work, and life. In 2020, we’ve combined the three monetary grant streams to a single $10,000 USD grant stream: Adobe Project Grants.
Through the Creative Cloud Donation Program, organizations receive up to 50 Creative Cloud Shared Device Licenses. These licenses are being used in programs that facilitate workshops and seminars to teach young people on how they can use Adobe tools to express themselves creatively through the use of digital media. To further expand the learning of these digital media tools, TIG facilitated monthly Youth Learning Webinars with industry experts. During these sessions, young people had the opportunity to hear about the expert’s creative process, to ask questions, learn and explore how the expert uses these tools, and receive feedback on their media projects. Topics for these Youth Learning Webinars included film editing tips and tricks using Adobe Premiere, how to navigate Adobe Photoshop, learning about different mediums for creating short animated films, the power of rap in bridging the gap between Education and urban culture, exploring social change through the use of digital media, and many more.
In total, 41 monetary Adobe Creativity Grants have been distributed to creative youth organizations from 10 countries. 5 organizations were awarded the 2019 Creative Catalyst Award & Innovation Grant to recognize their innovative work in leading and creating pathways for young people of the next generation to access creative education and opportunities. The Innovation Grant allowed these organizations to expand their mission and to continue to drive opportunities that ensure equitable access to creative education for a more inclusive and diverse creative field.
“I grew from this project by learning about what the LGBTQ community faces on a daily basis. This project has made me more comfortable with talking and engaging in productive conversation on the topic. I’ve learned to become less nervous to speak my mind and have now learned and experienced what it’s like to fight for not only myself, but for everyone”. — Adreya Lawson, Youth Participant, Wide Angle Youth Media, USA
16 organizations received a Project & Collaboration Grant to invest in unique activities they proposed. These ranged from an intensive summer mentorship program, conducting collaborative projects between countries; inviting industry experts to professional development training for staff members;, and expanding the capacity and reach of a current digital media program.
“I feel very happy to participate in this collaborative project, I believe that using teaching strategies like this project helped a lot of young people to work in groups and at the same time show the responsibility of each one with their activities, as well as encourage them to present their own opinion and listen to the others.” Silvia Journe, Educator from IPEMyt N° 23, Argentina, collaborated on a project with NGO A Pratiquecologia, Brazil
20 organizations received a Hardware Grant, which allowed them to access equipment, such as laptops, cameras, and drones, for expanding their current digital media programming. These grants provided organizations the opportunity to further develop their reach and impact within their community by increasing the accessibility to hardware and ultimately new learning opportunities.
“The fellowship has absolutely helped me with my career goals. It motivated me to pursue a career in storytelling, I bought my own camera and have been looking into film schools.” — Anonymous Youth Participant, Littleglobe, Inc. USA
Through the 2019 Adobe Creativity Grant cycle, we have reached over 117 organizations from 28 countries. These organizations have directly engaged with a total of 925,990 young people through various creative digital media programs and projects. We look forward to growing this network of creative youth organizations and support the field of digital media and creative learning in 2020 with the new grant cycle opened today!
