Samuel Ross, the British designer behind London-based label A-Cold-Wall*, has this week announced the fourth instalment of The Samuel Ross Black British Artist Grant Programme, which awards rising Black British talent across various design and creative disciplines – from art to industrial design, fashion to architecture.
Inaugurated in 2020, the programme first emerged in response to international civil rights protests following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police that May. ‘We need more visibility and collaboration between the arts and design institution and Black artists, the design industry must engage,’ Ross told Wallpaper* in June 2020. In the time since, 30 grants have been distributed – spanning writers, sculptors, filmmakers, furniture and fashion designers, and those working in VR – with notable recipients including furniture designer Mac Collins, photographer Ronan Mckenzie and architect Dominique Petit-Frère (of Limbo Accra).
The programme itself comprises a number of £2,500 grants in support of the various recipients’ ongoing work; alongside, those chosen receive mentorship from Ross and an advisory board, which numbers both design luminaries and representatives from some of Britain’s leading institutions, including the Royal College of Art, V&A East, the British Fashion Council, the University of Westminster and the Design Museum.
The Samuel Ross Black British Artist Grant Programme 2022
A flyer for The Samuel Ross Black British Artist Grant Programme 2022
‘We’re missing perspectives, contributions and creativity that level beyond commercial virtue placements, score sheets and influencer fees,’ Ross said in a foreword to the 2021 edition, which selected ten grant recipients last August. ‘Already a reality amongst the marginalised, barely visible – often invisible – communities that form Britain’s modern society, it seems implausible to not embed a layer of structure and coordination to begin changing this reality, step by step, year on year.’
As such, this ‘fourth chapter’ continues the expansion of the programme, inviting fellow fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner to join the advisory board as guest advisor, as well as Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, an art historian, broadcaster and director of V&A East. ‘I’m excited about seeing the level of talent we can support this year,’ says Wales Bonner in a statement. The programme aims to provide ‘tangible, material change’, giving grant winners ‘the necessary tools and strategies to propel them over the long-term’ and creating a ‘robust infrastructure, one that supports meaningful, collaborative connections between community and industry, integrating Black British talent across the creative landscape,’ as the notes describe.
Those wishing to be considered for the programme can at apply at community.samuel-ross.com from now until 29 August 2022.
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