VSCO Voices

Overview

VSCO Voices is a six-month grant program run by VSCO and Access Ventures. The program supports creators who use art as their vehicle to give voice to marginalized communities in the United States. Each year, five grant recipients are receiving mentorship and $20,000 in funding to carry out a creative project that will give voice to an underrepresented community in the United States. In 2018, the project theme is Home, a universal concept that transcends race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, and religion. Together, grant recipients will explore what home means to a marginalized community living in the United States today. As creators, we possess the power to uncover and capture voices not heard. Use your medium as a microphone for those who don’t have their own.  

Why VSCO Voices

Together with VSCO, we believe that creators are amongst the best equipped to spread and awaken diverse perspectives. VSCO Voices is a new grant program that supports creators who use art to give voice to marginalized communities in the United States. We believe in the power of helping creators spread diverse perspectives through art that will ultimately spark important conversations in our community. We see value in providing creatives access to come up with new ideas and the support and funding to try them out. We believe creators are a powerful force for change and VSCO Voices is a program that helps identify and fund early-stage creators that create impactful work that aims to become a catalytic program to help propel a creator's career. Each year, VSCO Voices will select five creators to participate in the six-month program and will provide each of the five grant recipients with mentorship and $20,000 in funding as well as participation in key events with your cohort. Applications will be selected based on relevance to the grant theme, and based on criteria including excellence, thoughtfulness, passion, as well as a continued commitment to the community described.  

How We Helped

Access Ventures’ seeks partners that share our desire in building a more inclusive and creative economy. We partnered and helped co-found the VSCO Voices program with VSCO, a photo company that builds creative tools to help equip, educate, and inspire anyone on the journey towards reaching their creative potential. Together with VSCO, we each participate in the program by leveraging our strengths to develop, manage, and execute on a new art grant that will fund the next generation of creators. Our role within VSCO Voices has been to provide the funding, strategy, and expertise in starting and scaling new impactful programs. We have also helped in opening doors to new partners, funders, and organizations that are mission-aligned in our efforts to support creators that are creating meaningful and impactful work in the United States.