Gucci is recognizing and financially supporting 12 organizations and 12 students with its Changemakers Awards.
The Italian luxury brand on Friday revealed the third round of recipients for its Gucci North America Changemakers Impact Fund and Scholars Program, including 12 nonprofit recipients that will receive a grant for $50,000 each for a one-year funding cycle and 12 scholarship recipients who will receive an academic scholarship for up to $20,000, as well as mentorship and a six-week-long virtual internship opportunity through Gucci America.
More than 200 organizations and 400 students applied to the program this year. The 12 nonprofit recipients are Living Walls from Atlanta; Free Root Operation in Chicago; Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit; Young Audiences Arts from Learning, Houston; Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; Miami Homes for All; 826 New Orleans; GatherFor, New York; BlackStar Film Festival from Philadelphia; Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples in San Francisco; UforChange, Toronto, and HBCU 20X20, Washington D.C.
The 12 scholarship recipients are Antonio Finamore-Phillips, Otis College; Cassius Palacio, University of Southern California; Dekaye Hailu, University of California, Los Angeles; Doreen Pierre, Parsons School of Design; Dorothy Pallanes, Drexel University; Exodus Broussard, Loyola Marymount University; Jalynn McDuffey, Florida A&M University; Madison Grant, Xavier University of Louisiana; Mahlon West, Howard University; Miles Richards, College of Creative Studies; Nathan Batra, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Theodora Etokimo, Toronto Metropolitan University.
Last year, the awards provided funding to 22 students, including recipients from the inaugural 2020 Changemakers class and a separate awardee of the Gucci North America Changemakers x CFDA Scholars by Design award. That award this year goes to Ajai Kasim of Parsons School of Design and Kaya Ugorji of Fashion Institute of Technology.
The organizations will also have the opportunity to engage in volunteer activities with Gucci employees, town hall conversations with Gucci leadership and additional programming with Gucci’s North America Brand and Culture Engagement team. In addition, the students in the six-week program will engage with all departments at Gucci North America, workshops and corporate mentor assignments.
“It has been an honor leading Gucci Changemakers North America as we continue to set the industry standard for impactful and creative community focused initiatives,” said Antoine Phillips, vice president of brand and culture engagement at Gucci America. “These talented young people and nonprofit organizations inspire the Gucci community every single day to dream bigger than ever before. Through this work we are focused not only on amplifying their stories of impact, but inspiring lasting change through the power of arts and culture.”
Gucci launched the Gucci North America Changemakers program in 2019 to award annual impact grants to support community organizations focused on increasing inclusion and diversity in communities and the fashion industry. To date the brand has awarded more than 50 students with almost $1 million in scholarships and 40 nonprofit organizations with almost $2 million in grants.
To honor this year’s recipients, Gucci will host a multimedia exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in early September. The exhibition will also showcase 2020 Changemakers grantee Design Core.
