Celebrating Black Creatives
The 2021 campaign
Shine the Light was born from the desire to celebrate local black creators and design innovators form a diverse set of industries. By amplifying this generation of leaders, we can raise awareness of volunteer, educational, and professional opportunities to promote a career in the arts for the next generation.
We believe in the power of design to enact positive change in our communities. Diversity is our greatest creative advantage and biggest opportunity. Designers create experiences that directly impact the lives of others through many avenues- space, products, packaging, advertising, graphics, fashion, and art. Design permeates every product, moment, and solution in our daily lives creating immense opportunity for change, equity, and representation.
Without diversity in these creative career paths, the needs and ideals of entire subsects of our community aren’t being considered or represented. Consider the interior design of a public health clinic, or the branding seen in a local election television campaign. If differences aren’t celebrated (or even acknowledged), would we consider these designs successful and inclusive?
Together, by having these conversations and sharing a variety of perspectives, we hope to craft a new narrative that fosters social and racial equity in the workplace and design community.
The Creators
SMBW sat down for a discussion with local black creative visionaries to hear their stories, challenges, successes, and perspectives. This 4-part series of Creator Chats provides a platform to share and celebrate their contribution to design and foster an ongoing conversation in our community and industries about the diversity and equity of the design fields.
Research
Our research into diversity in design.
Webinar
Hosted and moderated by SMBW, this webinar was the last installment in our series of conversations with local black creatives, reflecting the design field and ongoing opportunities for black creators in the design community.
Meet the Panelists
Burt Pinnock
Principal
Baskervill
Kia Weatherspoon
Founder
Determined by Design
Maurice Beane
Founder
Maurice Beane Studios
Hamilton Glass
Founder
Mending Walls / All In Together
Scholarship
SMBW is committed to the education of emerging design talent. Over the past 30 years, the firm has focused on connecting with the academic community to mentor, collaborate, and support student work through internships and externships, open studios, critiques, mentoring, teaching, and scholarship opportunities. With this annual scholarship, we hope to inspire and support the next generation of creative leaders and expand access to design educations.
For the 2021 scholarship, black designers answered the question: How does a designer, and the work they create, have the potential to create positive community impact?