Design Museum launches entrepreneurs accelerator programme
Image: The Design Museum
London’s Design Museum has put out a call for entries for its Entrepreneurs Hub – an eight-week accelerator programme intended to aid design-led startups.
The programme will provide 15 emerging businesses with “training in entrepreneurial skills, one-to-one mentoring and exposure to industry leaders, enabling them to develop their design concepts into viable, sustainable businesses.”
Tim Marlow, the museum’s director and CEO, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the next generation of designers through the Entrepreneurs Hub. The impact of COVID-19 has only widened the gap for creatives from underrepresented backgrounds, not least in London, which is the focus of this pilot programme.
The programme is specifically geared around inclusion and diversity, with the museum stating that it is “aimed at creatives who may have felt locked out of design opportunities in the past”.
Marlow said: “As one of the world’s leading museums of contemporary design in all forms, our aim is to eliminate barriers for creative founders who have felt excluded from opportunities in the design world and ensure design is accessible for all.”
The museum said that the initial programme will priorities applicants from low-income backgrounds and who identify with one of the following criteria: “didn't go to university, or parents/guardians didn't go to university; receive Universal Credit, or other government benefits; disabled or neurodivergent; grew up in the care system; have sole caring responsibilities for others (including parents, single parents, caring for a family member or partner); come from Black, Asian or Ethnic Minority backgrounds; LGBTQ+.”
Sessions will run from 4 October to 25 November 2021, with an £800 monthly stipend offered to all participants.
Applications for the programme are now open, but close on 13 September 2021 at 18.00. If you wish to apply, please click here.
Disegno Journal is a quarterly design magazine devoted to long-form writing on design, architecture and fashion.
Story source: The Design Museum