The Providence Design Catalyst program is back.
Today, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza and DESIGNxRI Executive Director Lisa Carnevale, as well as Work-Shop Design Studio COO Nic Schuman (who previously received grant funding) announced the re-launch of the program at The Design Office.
The Design Catalyst is run thanks to a partnership between DESIGNxRI, a nonprofit economic development organization, the city of Providence, RISD and Real Jobs RI, a state Department of Labor and Training program. It’s most recent cohort ran from 2017-2018.
The program offers a total of $150,000 to Providence-based “micro” enterprises (less than five employees) with Providence-based owners. Each accepted business can receive between $10,000 to $20,000 in grants.
“The Design Catalyst program is a unique opportunity to combine the power of our community’s design expertise and entrepreneurial base with resources from the City and State to boost well-poised creative enterprises and encourage innovative growth,” Carnevale said of the launch. “We can’t wait to see this year’s applicant pool, which always reveals an amazing depth of talent in our city and state.”
The goal of the project is to spur the “hotbed of design activity” in Rhode Island and Providence, which “has the third largest percentage of creative sector jobs in the country, after New York and California,” at places like Studio Endo and Focal Upright, to name a few.
It works like this: Accepted applicants are subjected to a milestone-based grant system that requires applicants to develop a list of goals for their business to complete during the four-month duration of the program.
During that time, accepted participants are given a business partner, who helps them achieve their outlined milestones. In addition to funding, participants have access to workshops and both professional and business development.
“Just to get cleared to be considered, [we have] our own rubric for how they’re evaluated against that project proposal,” Carnevale said in a 2017 article on the Catalyst. “Will [applicants’ milestones] help grow, start and sustain, expand the company? Will this project help sustain the businesses?”
"The Design Catalyst program offers new and emerging businesses the support and confidence they need to move forward," Shumann added, speaking to his experience as a grant recipient. "It gave Work-Shop not only some financial resources to focus on a needed strategy, but the education and mentorship to continue to build our business here in the state."
Applications are open today, Nov. 1, through Nov. 26.
