Instagram and Brooklyn Museum Debut the 2022 #BlackVisionaries Program

Instagram and the Brooklyn Museum have paired together to debut the 2022 #BlackVisionaries program to award aspiring Black artists, Black designers and small Black-owned businesses.

The program has accumulated $650,000 in grants to invest in the recipients work to highlight Black voices. Last year’s program awarded five Black designers with $205,000 in grants, including three aspiring designer grants, an impact grant and a visionary grant for a small business. This year, the collaboration between Instagram and the Brooklyn Museum will feature Antwaun Sargent, writer and curator, to spearhead the #BlackVisionaries program.

“Most folks who don’t have traditional pathways into spaces like the arts and design just need opportunity,” says Sargent in a press release. “A grant like this could mean a world of opportunity.”

The committee of artists and designers to select this year’s recipients is led by Sargent, Elle Decor Editor-in-Chief Asad Syrkett, Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth Carter and Head of Design at Instagram Ian Spalter. Known for her award-winning work on the set of Marvel’s “Black Panther”, this will be Carter’s second year joining the selection committee.

According to the announcement, “Instagram and the Brooklyn Museum will also award mentorship to each grant recipient together with Mobile Makers, a nonprofit organization that offers youth design and skill-building workshops in Chicago and Boston communities.”

The applications for this year’s program opened on June 28 and close on July 29, and they’re available here.