Creative Debuts on the newly launched Black Artists Grant

Creative Debuts is a free global platform for emerging artists and designers. Last month, it launched Black Artists Grant (BAG), supported by Umbrella Studios and Most Wanted Wines. BAG is currently a £1,500 monthly grant to provide relief for three black artists in the UK. We sat down with Calum Hall, director and founder of Creative Debuts to talk about his initiative.

Could you tell us a little about Creative Debuts? What is its essence?

Creative Debuts uncovers, connects and supports talented emerging artists across the globe; driving diversity and accessibility by collaborating with exciting businesses. We provide our creative community a wide range of opportunities ranging from bespoke artwork commissions, an artwork subscription service, regular events/ exhibitions and a whole lot more. The mission of Creative Debuts is to provide a platform for artists of all ages and to help support them in their creative journey and to bring people together.

What motivated you to start the Black Artist Grant?

2020 has been a fascinating year so far. From a global lockdown due to Covid-19 to a widespread awakening from the BLM movement. What is clear is that Creative Debuts was born out of a celebration of black culture, so it was imperative we listened and learnt from our community to then put words into actions. Everyone, but especially and importantly white people, have had the opportunity to look within themselves, their companies, their families and friends and think how we can make this better. For us International Women’s day, Black History Month and Pride is 365 days of the year. However, showing solidarity is great, but what matters is the action. That’s our mentality to everything, to create an ongoing series of change and not just a moment. 

This grant is explicitly for black artists, that’s non negotiable. Obviously, we are aware that lots of other people have lots of other challenges, but fundamentally the art world does have a problem as does every aspect of society. By shining a spotlight on black creators of all ages and not just artists, but also poets, designers, actors, dancers, jewellers, etc., we hope to give them a little bit of a boost and show them that we see and appreciate them. We want the creatives to feel a positive change and to also help inspire other platforms/ institutions/ businesses to make similar decisions to support the black community. Creative Debuts have always led by example, wanting to change things for the better. It has to be a movement not a moment. 

You have mentioned the grant is financial support with no strings attached?

That’s one of the special things about the grant. The recipients can spend the money on whatever they want: to get groceries, go on holidays, put it on their oyster to go around galleries, or buy art materials. They might want to pay their rent or their mum’s rent and that might give them the breathing space to do more art. Obviously it would be amazing if they make art out of it but we are not asking them to deliver anything or report to us. There are really no strings attached. 

As we followed your initiative online, we were very excited to see the grant go from £500 to £1500 in a matter of days. Could you tell us about how you have received support for this initiative?

It’s been really amazing! Now we have the fantastic support from Umbrella Studios and Most Wanted Wines. We are all startups which makes it that little bit more exciting, as hopefully it helps inspire other companies to either get involved as well to help further grow the fund, or to set up their own series of ongoing commitments. The fact that Umbrella Studios and Most Wanted Wines felt confident enough to reach out and get involved really did take me by surprise a bit, as it wasn’t the intention at first. But now I hope it is just the beginning and we have more like minded companies join the cause to help even more creatives.

A very worthy mention in the creation of BAG are The White Pube, who have supported me with the best way to communicate and promote the grant. They are a fantastic platform that puts a magnifying glass to the art world and institutions, doing reviews and making it accessible for a younger audience. I definitely recommend going to check them out, they also do a takeover of the Creative Debuts Instagram account every Wednesday.

You have partnered with Root-ed, a zine and platform, run by Amber Akaunu and Fauziya Johnson, that promotes and supports creative people of colour, to select the first grant recipients. Could you tell us about the selection process and the recipients? 

Creative Debuts are not involved with the selection or with the recipients at all. It’s great to have Root-ed as the first selectors because of the inspiring work they do but also because they are based in the North West. A lot of art opportunities tend to be centred around the capital, so it’s really important that BAG is for the whole of the UK, and not just for London. 

Every 3 months the selector will change which aims to help democratise the whole process by having different parts of the UK represented and different audiences communicated with. Amber and Fauziya have been amazing to partner with and their choices for June, the super talented Gold, Harry and Huda perfectly sum up why this grant is important and the incredible range of creative talent that will benefit.

The first Black Artists Grant Recipients are:  

(words by Creative Debuts)

Gold Makambi, Beautiful Blue (Video still), 2019

Gold Akanbi is an interdisciplinary artist based in both London and Liverpool. Using neurodiversity as the basis for how she interacts with materials, she explores the concepts and histories relating to the Black Body, Black Spirituality and Womanism. She uses poetry, photography, paintings, dance, movement, and sound to fully realise her conceptualisations. Being a 2nd generation bisexual British-Nigerian woman, Gold has often felt that she seeks to not only validate her identity but the history of those just like her.

Harry Constantine, (Video still)

Harry is a 14-year-old multidisciplinary artist who loves writing, production, acting, dancing, and creating films. Attending theatre school alongside his normal school days, he’s passionate and excited to continue creating artwork. Harry usually makes videos and directs and edits them himself

Huda, Beautiful Blue (Video still), 2020

‘Music has always been at the forefront in everything that I do, it’s a form of expression that helps me grow + heal. Singing + writing songs has been my creative practice for as long as I can remember. Creating art is a passion and it is what makes me the woman I am today.’ - Huda.

Paloma Chavez Muente,

Contributor, MADE IN BED