How D&AD gives back to the creative community
D&AD is a charity. Your money and time – to enter our awards, take part in our learning programmes, attend our Festival, join us as members – is used to do what D&AD does best and has always done: to stand up for creative excellence in the passionate belief that good work creates better outcomes for all concerned; to campaign for a fairer, more sustainable, more diverse industry; to provide the new talent the industry needs to survive and flourish, and to inspire and educate all practitioners everywhere. Stimulation, not congratulation.
Your money helps us to do a great many things that we believe are important for the continuing health of our industry.
Over the past two years we've supported more than 70,000 emerging creative professionals who have been guided and inspired by free educational content on the D&AD website.
17,278 individuals downloaded our New Blood Awards briefs this year and 5,500 submitted creative projects to be judged by industry professionals.
Nearly 4,000 young creatives are upskilled every year through free learning events, such as the New Blood Festival and workshops held at universities. 25 rising stars will attend New Blood Academy, a free 4-week creative bootcamp this summer.
We ran 1,000 portfolio surgeries last year, connecting industry experts with students seeking career advice.
Since New Blood Shift launched in 2017, we have put 87 creatives without higher education through free night schools and vocational training in London and New York, creating life-changing and career-making opportunities for people for whom university is not the right or available option.
58% of 'Shifters' have been from BAME groups (from both London and NY). 47% of 'Shifters' have been women (from both London and NY). 74% of the 2018/19 London Class secured paid placements in the creative industries as a result of the course.
Each year we distribute 3,000 copies of our flagship educational publication, the D&AD Annual. The 2018 edition included a pull-out manual of practical exercises for creatives at the early stages of their career.
We support other organisations and initiatives that are working to improve accessibility and diversity in the creative industries by delivering talks and workshops with RARE, Creative Equals, Commercial Break, Ideas Foundation, New Direction, Livity, Brixton Finishing School.
We are immensely proud of these achievements, but we're by no means done. We still have a lot of work to do to see our initiatives grow, scale and evolve. This includes the digitalisation of our learning products to enable their use by much broader, bigger sections of the community, expanded programs for New Blood and Shift, and much else besides.
We thank and salute all of you who support your community by also supporting us and our aims.