Black creators face unique systemic barriers across the creator industry - from disparities in compensation and attribution, to toxic experiences and more. We believe one of the ways we can help remove some of those barriers is to provide mentorship and financial resources to emerging Black creators in the early stages of their professional career. Professional creators often have the education and tools necessary to monetize, request proper attribution and create ongoing opportunities.
Today, we are excited to announce our first accelerator program focused on supporting 25 emerging, undiscovered Black talent on their journey to make content creation a full-time career.
We are accepting applications through August 12. To apply, visit: https://523.snap.com/apply. Participants will be selected by early September.
We partnered with Google Pixel, UNCMMN, and Westbrook Media to support participants with some of the best devices, industry mentors, hands-on learning experiences and financial backing. Snap will provide funding of $10,000 USD per month per creator for 12 months to assist participants’ creative endeavors. These creators will be selected based on their unique voices, alignment with Snap’s values, and vision for their career without giving preference to follower numbers or previous brand partnership experience.
These creators will also have the opportunity to Beta test new features; leverage Snapchat’s content offerings like Stories, Spotlight, Maps; and attend educational webinars and SnapSchool to ensure their success on the platform.
The launch of this accelerator program is part of our broader, ongoing efforts to ensure that content on our platform reflects the diversity of Snapchatters and their interests.
We recently announced 523, Snap's ecosystem of accelerators serving companies and creators from traditionally underrepresented groups.
Yellow is our accelerator program targeted towards entrepreneurs who are building businesses, brands, and products that can contribute to human progress by helping people. In our 2021 Yellow accelerator class, seven out of nine companies have at least one BIPOC or woman founder; 52% of our founders are BIPOC; and 56% are BIPOC-founded companies. Historically, across all of our classes, 22 out of 39 companies had at least one BIPOC founder (56%).
With over 80% of the US Gen Z Population watching a Snap Original last year, Snap continues to elevate voices and topics that matter to our community. Over the past two years, over 50% of leads or hosts in Snap Originals have identified as BIPOC or LGBTQIA+.
We are committed to elevating our community’s voices and can’t wait to see what they create!