Samuel Ross announces fourth chapter of Black British Artist Grant Programme

From art to industrial design, fashion to architecture - The latest edition is accepting applications now

19 Aug 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.’

Awarding Black British talent across design disciplines, this week designer Samuel Ross, the British designer behind London-based label A-Cold-Wall*, has announced the fourth instalment of The Samuel Ross Black British Artist Grant Programme. 

The programme 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. 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.

This year, there are 10 slots available.

Applications are open from today until August 29, and can be submitted on the dedicated grant program website.

More Information