• You just quit your job and you’re ready to create your own project that is life-giving and truly about creating an equitable future.

• You’re ideating on building a media project that centers equity, and aren’t sure how to move forward. You crave being part of a like-minded community, asking the hard questions and grappling and learning together.

• You’re a musician who has been working on a public archival project around Black musical lineage in America for years, and it’s been a years-long process of starts and stops. You’re looking for deep focus on reviving this project, and building momentum through community accountability and inspiration.

• You’re a community organizer who is burnt out from focusing on inequities and oppression, you’ve been envisioning another approach, and are ready to workshop some new ideas, based in liberation and joy.

• You’re a creative technologist dreaming up a radical social media concept around human connection that you’re super passionate about! But you’re kind of precious about sharing with others and want to have a breakthrough in building community.

• You’re exhausted from fighting and resisting, and you are in deep need of a BIPOC centered program that is a safe and nurturing space to collectively validate each other’s wildest visions of what is possible.

• You want to free up your mindsets, behaviors and processes around how you build projects out in the world. In other words, you’re looking to deepen your practice of equity-design.

In the face of unregulated racist tech, harmful media narratives and many other disparities we know that the insight and expertise of the people most impacted by these harms are the people we stand for leading the vision of new futures.

Our creativity, vision and ideas as Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color have historically been dismissed, devalued and stolen.

Our productivity is valued over our humanity.

Our expertise and leadership have been system(at)ically thwarted.

Our innate sensibilities, our collectivism, our rituals and collective traditions of building together have been made inferior to individualism, and the idea that we must “win at all costs”.

We’ve witnessed our own resignation mirrored back in the hundreds of interactions we've had with BIPOC designers in the past few years. The resignation can feel like a sense of discontent and overwhelm, a feeling of ungroundedness and disembodiment. It’s time to gather our people, there is power in collectively envisioning new futures!

The INKubator is a virtual 8-week program (September 30 – November 18, 2022) and critical hub of community and support, focused on BIPOC designers building big, bold and equitable ideas for our collective future. For our fall pilot, we will open up seats to 16 participants.

We created this program to support people working on tech and media-connected projects, because these industries have immense global impact and are where equity is urgently needed. You don’t have to be a technologist like a coder or engineer, or a professional media maker to have tech or media components to your project.

What we are creating in the INKubator is what our team has been wanting and yearning for. A space for us to be energized, to celebrate, to be curious, to be deeply connected to ourselves and one another, co-creating the momentum to support our ideas and birth them into the world.

We’re so excited to be centering our efforts in supporting Black, Indigenous and People of Color designers and their equitable projects– projects that improve the wellbeing and livelihoods of their communities, and beyond.

As BIPOC designers, we know our creative communities need support and community to manifest our great ideas. We provide the support needed to nurture equitable ideas and get them out into the world. This program will be structured using our Inkblot Design™ framework, an equity design framework to radically transform the mindsets, practices and experiences of how you design, through three lenses, as detailed below:

1. Who Are You? – Personal and leadership development affirming the specific gifts you bring to your project and exploring your origin story as well as the pain points and barriers that impact you as a BIPOC creator.

2. What Are You Designing? – Dedicated workshopping of your equity-focused projects via relational and strategic in-session activities from our Inkblot Design™ framework.

3. Who Will You Design With? – A community practice of co-design, where you give and receive critical feedback to support the momentum of each other’s projects.

The INKubator is 100% free of cost for selected participants. Most U.S. based incubators actually charge participants to join, which perpetuates race and economic inequities in terms of resources, opportunities and experiences for BIPOC designers across all sectors. We’re not down with that! And, in order for those most impacted by structural racism to lead the design of our collective future, we must be committed to lifting these obvious barriers to entry.

We’ve been a part of many workshops, incubators, entrepreneurship programs, self-development programs, healing and spiritual communities, artistic and creative communities… and the Inkblot INKubator has a sprinkle of these vibes throughout. But the real way we stand apart is that 1) We’re focused on equity-centered projects, and 2) We straddle both the inward “Let’s-talk-about-our-feelings-and-go-deep” mode, along with an outward “Ok, so let’s take action and move this idea into the world” energy. We have found that a lot of programs tend to do one or the other, but we need both.

As misrepresented people, we especially need space to address the internal barriers that are holding us back as well as the space to celebrate our gifts and uplift one another. At the end of the day, the self-made person myth is just…a myth, and we know no one who has gained traction on their ideas alone nor broken through barriers without community.

• How to pitch to venture capitalists

• Creating a business plan

• Networking and selling

If that’s what you’re looking for, this is not the right program for you.

• Week 1: Who Are You/Who are We? - Exploring who we are in relation to our projects

• Week 2: Equity Visioning

• Week 3: Getting to the Root - Internal + external barriers

• Week 4: Sourcing Your Story - Sharing your big vision for the world

• Week 5: Sourcing Your Story [Con’t]

• Week 6: Resourcing Each Other - Building momentum with community

• Week 7: Resourcing Each Other [Con’t]

• Week 8: Celebration & Acknowledgments

BIPOC is a recently popularized U.S originated term that stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and is an attempt to address the specific racialized lived experiences of Black & Indigenous people that is separate from other groups of color.

Listen, some people dig it as it feels empowering to them. Some hate it, feeling like it’s academic jargon that we only use in “professional settings”, and causes additional exclusion, elitism, or avoidance of naming actual communities.

It’s polarizing AND it’s also commonly understood, SO…for the ease of communication here, we will be using that term throughout this application to speak to the experiences of people who are racialized and therefore systemically disadvantaged. With that said, we understand if you have a strong reaction to it.

What can we say? Language is always evolving and changing. Maybe we can create a whole new term for “us” while we’re in the INKubator (*extra credit project).

Don’t let the word “design” stop you! We don’t mean it in the narrow, exclusive club sense, re: people with a certain pedigree, education or training.

Our stance is that everyone is a designer, whether you have the word in your job title, or not. Anyone who is creating decisions that impact people and the planet - are in effect - designing our collective future.

In order to create an equitable world, we believe that those most impacted by structural racism and other inequities NEED to be at the center of designing solutions informed by their lived experiences. In this program, we will “design from the source” of those lived experiences.

Being BIPOC in a white dominant world means we’ve been equipped with a type of spidey sense – our unique experiences, creativity, and resourcefulness have shaped how we see the world. Our experiences, as those most impacted by structural racism (and compounding inequities), position us as the very people to share our own insights and expertise as we envision what an equitable world can look like.

We’re centering OUR communities because we so rarely get the dedicated space to commune, to take deep breaths, to build, to relate, to support one another as we ideate and build on our visions. We view our time together not as a “nice thing to do” but as critical and necessary. This is liberatory community work!

As BIPOC, we’ve had a long history of data used against us or to control us. By acknowledging that reality and the impact of that shared experience of harm, we are committed to being transparent about how we will use data. All information collected through the INKubator program application will be stored in a secured cloud, and used for internal purposes relating to this program only. We will not share, sell, or compromise your personal data in any way to anyone. Please note we will request your permission via a media release should we want to use anything you shared during the program e.g. a great piece of your feedback that we’d like to use in future INKubator marketing materials.

Project Inkblot is based in the U.S. and our team's lived experience is rooted in being people of color living here. The INKubator is open to everyone (as long as you can make the session times) but we want to be real that the content, resources, and scenarios may feel U.S. centric to someone without that shared experience.

We hope to build the capacity to be more geographically inclusive in the future, but wanted to give a heads up to level-set the experience that will be delivered for this round.

While we have led many programs to participants around the world, this particular offering will be delivered in English from the continental U.S. for the pilot program (our first cohort).

This program centers BIPOC designers.

*An important message on the word “designer”, Project Inkblot’s stance is that everyone is a designer, whether you have the word in your job title, or not. Anyone who is creating decisions that impact people and the planet - are in effect - designing our very interdependent collective future. We are here to equip people to become co-designers of an equitable world.

All participants are required to enter the program with an equity-centered project. What we mean by “equity-centered projects” is that the project must center the well-being and improve the livelihoods and experiences of BIPOC communities.

We are looking for tech and media-connected projects, meaning your project considers and users components of media and/or technology to build, grow, and share your idea in ways that are compassionate, and community oriented.

In 2022, big media and tech have outsized global impact, and are the biggest vehicles for accelerating inequities. Every single one of us interacts with platforms and information in our day-to-day lives.

You don’t have to be a technologist, like a coder or an engineer, or an official media maker, like a filmmaker. We just want to hear that you are considering the role of media and tech in your project.

Projects can be at various stages— from seed to mid-stage— but we are focused on people that are in ideation and/or exploratory phases. Since the INKubator is a place to explore and nourish your idea, it is perfectly acceptable to arrive with an “unfinished” or “unpolished” project.

Here are some hypothetical examples of projects to give you the flavor of the kind of folks we’ll be gathering:

• A film collective for Black veterans

• A software platform to equity-check facial recognition technology

• A project to convert parking lots into medicinal community garden

• An online breastfeeding education program for young parents who are underinsured

• A collaborative virtual reality game on communal sound healing

• A product line of puzzles celebrating images of the Asian diaspora

• A gaming community for young Black and Brown autistic girls

1. If you have a fully mature project that’s well resourced, funded and with lots of support, this program was not designed for you.

2. Projects will not be considered if they are only in service to yourself (for example, a conceptual art project that benefits only you and your artistic practice). Your project must have the ability to engage greater communities of real people in ways that leave them better off.

We are fully aware that life happens – and missing a session because of an emergency or life event is totally understandable. Missing a session because you don’t feel like going doesn’t work for you, your cohort, or the communities you wish to serve through the INKubator. Since this is a program centered in community and accountability, we are relying on you to show up, as fully present as possible, for each session.

If you can’t make it to all the sessions, we can’t promise that we can fulfill our intentions for you in the program – so we request you double-check your calendar.

If you can’t show up for all sessions, this is not the program for you, but there will be ways for us to stay in community for the future!

In addition to the eight (8) core sessions, there will be:

• Up to four (4) supplementary community events (recommended but optional)

• Two (2) hours minimum of weekly accountability activities + assignments to deepen your practice

• Will you be 18 years or older by the time the INKubator program begins?

• Are you fluent in English? At this very moment, we only have the staffing capabilities to provide this program in English. We hope to expand and make this program more language accessible in the future

• Do you have a current project or a project idea that centers communities most impacted by structural inequity/inequities, with the intention of improving the well-being and lift barriers for this community?

• Are you part of a group that has experienced systemic barriers throughout American history due to your race that is evident in your life today?

• Do you commit to all program dates?

• Do you commit to 2hrs a week of additional program or cohort group work?

• Application Period Opens: August 8, 2022

• Application Deadline: August 26, 2022

  Please note that we are only receiving and reviewing the first 200 applications from the time that applications open. When we max out at 200, we will officially close the open call process.

• Final Selection Deadline: September 16, 2022

• Announcements Made and Accepted Participants Notified: September 16, 2022

• The INKubator Program! September 30 – November 18, 2022

Please note that this program meets on Friday afternoons from 12 - 2pm/EST for the duration of the 8 weeks.

We understand this conflicts with folks who are working within a standard 9 - 5pm frame and that this may exclude some people. We thought hard about how to create a time frame that would work for participants and our staff and as this is a pilot program, we will likely experiment with various time frames for future programs.

In the event that this does conflict with your working hours, we highly suggest you make the request to your employer to clear space on your calendar to participate in this program as part of your professional development, because it is!

The program also includes:

• Up to four (4) supplementary community events (recommended but optional)

• Two (2) hours minimum of weekly accountability activities + assignments to deepen your practice