AIGA Minnesota awarded 2017 AIGA Innovate grant August 2, 2017

AIGA Minnesota is thrilled to receive their third AIGA Innovate grant in July 2017. EMERGE 2.0, the awarded grant submitted by Jenny Price, AIGA national president council chair (president emeritus of AIGA Minnesota) along with Katrin Loss, AIGA Minnesota president, is designed to engage emerging designers (0-5 years after graduation). It provides these designers tangible events, experience, and opportunities through customizable content that can help to advance their career paths. Additionally, it inspires members and prospective members, as well as each participating chapters’ and communities’ needs in the areas of Employment, Growth, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Life Skills.

The goal is to grow and expand EMERGE to reach new, more diverse audiences, members, and prospective members, in partnership with the Diversity and Inclusion task-force. It also provides engaging experiences that demonstrate the value and benefits of being an AIGA member to those we have not yet reached. EMERGE 2.0 aligns with the membership engagement and retention strategy as well as AIGA’s strategic initiative goals.

This expansion project will kick-off by converging chapter leaders from the across the country, who participated in EMERGE to-date in partnering with the Diversity and Inclusion task-force. Representatives from 20 chapters that have produced EMERGE programming to-date will be invited to participate in an online design thinking workshop series that will take place over the course of two months in the fall of 2017. This series will incorporate the IBM Design Thinking framework, facilitated by Jenny and Katrin along with a team of support facilitators gathered from the AIGA and IBM F.Act Summits held earlier this year. The goal of this facilitated workshop is to gather learnings, insights, and ideas for how we can enhance and grow EMERGE, in support of the needs of our members and prospective members.

Once the workshop findings are synthesized, participants will collaborate to develop the awareness week framework, adding to the EMERGE Playbook, and in partnership with AIGA national, invite all 72 chapters to participate in EMERGE Awareness Week 2.0. The goal is to offer a more cohesive distribution channel and platform to share out widely.

As the organizing AIGA Innovate grant developers chapter, Jenny Price and Katrin Loss are handling all logistics in coordination with the AIGA national office and key stakeholders. We look forward to kicking off 2018 with the EMERGE 2.0 experience to positively impact our local communities and the larger design profession. We are better together!

For more information for how to get involved or sponsorship inquiries, please contact Jenny Price and Katrin Loss.