DBACE previous winners and bursaries

DBACE 2023 bursaries

As part of the DBACE programme’s wider support offering, an extra five memberships are offered with MeWe360 to creative entrepreneurs who drive social impact through their enterprise. The 12-month membership provides tailored business support to develop the entrepreneur and help them achieve their enterprise’s next milestones.

Bridget Productions

Bridget Productions is the first British female-led production company to guarantee a minimum 50/50 gender split on all jobs, placing women and non-binary crew behind the camera and across all production roles.

Founder: Nicole Rixon

CasildART

CasildART Contemporary was set up to address the lack of representation for Black artists by commercial galleries and museums. Founded in 2019 by Sukai Eccleston, a former TV and media executive, their mission is to be a catalyst for change in the art world and transform the UK visual landscape by inserting Black narratives into the culture. They aim to create pathways for success that empower Black artists to earn a sustainable living from their practice.

Founder: Sukai Eccleston

Dundee Community Craft CIC

Dundee Community Craft CIC is a More Than Profit Organisation on a social mission to make Dundee, Scotland the Recovery Capital of Europe by providing collective healing through craft. They provide craft and design education, employment opportunities and visibility to those who would otherwise go left unheard.

Founder: Stephanie Graham

Loud Parade

Loud Parade is a music creative and cultural creative agency helping brands speak more authentically to younger audiences through their advertising campaigns using contemporary music. By working with a large network of independent artists, they produce branded tracks for brands through helping brands to sell their products in adverts across social platforms such as Instagram and TikTok using tracks which make the digital ads not feel like a traditional advert.

Co-founders: Rahmon Agbaje and Maatin Adewunmi

Soundtruism

A media production company specialising in factual narrative podcasts. Its commercial arm includes Birmingham Podcast Festival. This feeds their social impact side; to explore societal issues in doc form, elevating local journalism for global impact.

Founder: Nina Robinson

DBACE 2022 bursaries

As part of the DBACE programme’s wider support offering, an extra five memberships are offered with MeWe360 to creative entrepreneurs who drive social impact through their enterprise. The 12-month membership provides tailored business support to develop the entrepreneur and help them achieve their enterprise’s next milestones.

Birdsong

For people who want to dress with joy, support makers and protect the planet, Birdsong skillfully creates not-so-everyday staples and made-for-you pieces in the most ethical, socially impactful way possible. Birdsong makes clothes that are ethical, sustainable and made by talented women paid a fair wage.

Co-founder: Susanna Wen  

Northern Fortress Films

Northern Fortress Films is an award-winning Bradford-based production company. With the aim of shining a spotlight on Northern talent and giving Northern voices the chance to tell their stories, diversity and representation is at the core of the films they make.

Founder: Louisa Rose Mackleston

Re_Considered

Re_considered creates one-of-a-kind pieces from unwanted clothing. They also work with items from your existing wardrobe and transform them into something you will love and wear again, aiming to break the unsustainable make-buy-discard model used in the fashion industry.

Founder: Tabby Bunyan

DBACE 2021 winners

DBACE 2021 received 396 entries from across the UK, across which was an incredible range of creativity, entrepreneurship and positive impact being made to society. We were delighted to have brought together an incredible group of experts to judge DBACE 2021.  Panel members drew on extensive professional expertise across the creative industries and have many years of experience in leadership as well as setting up and supporting new businesses.
You can catch up on the event and read the detail via the link below.

African Diaspora Dance Association

The first dance examination board and teaching organisation to specialise in and accredit dances that fall under the African Diaspora. They seek to actively expand the curriculum and training of future generations through bringing a new vibrant approach to dance education, expanding the practice and knowledge of current and future students and giving dance teachers and professionals opportunities to further their practice, regardless of age or abilities.

Founder: Nahum McLean

DBACE funding awarded: £16,000

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Black Females in Architecture

A social enterprise and global membership organisation with almost 400 members, Black Females in Architecture (BFA) supports its membership through a support network within which members benefit from shared knowledge, advice, guidance, access to the personal networks of fellow members, job opportunities and much more. BFA also actively promotes racial equity, social justice and systemic change in the industry and publicly advocates for Black women who work, study or practice in the built environment industry.

Co-directors: Akua Danso, Neba Sere, Selasi Setufe

DBACE funding awarded: £15,000

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Planet Friendly Paint

Planet Friendly Paint delivers an alternative route to waste produced by the cosmetics industry by bridging the gap between waste and art by upcycling waste make-up into a functional paint. By giving a new life to colour cosmetics before disposal, Planet Friendly Paint hopes to make an impact on a national scale and encourage other retailers to do the same. Alongside demonstrating the possibilities of a circular economy, Planet Friendly Paint also offers unique artwork for sale.

Founder: Ameenah Begum

DBACE funding awarded: £8,500

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The Blair Academy

The Blair Academy envisages a world where Hip Hop brings health, happiness and well-being to the lives of many so that they can combat loneliness and improve or prevent the deterioration of physical and mental health. They have boosted health and happiness, using hip hop dance, for over 5000 people across care and community settings in London and Essex. The growing team have ambitious plans to expand their reach and provide their services across the UK.

Founder: Charlie Blair

DBACE funding awarded: £10,500

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You Look Okay To Me

Launched in 2016 as an online space for the chronic illness community, You Look Okay To Me is a creative consulting service that assists other organisations, charities and enterprises to find the most effective and creative ways in telling stories about illness and invisible disabilities as well as supporting them in increasing their audience reach. You Look Okay To Me aims to not only raise the profile of diverse chronic illness experiences but also strives to change the way we talk about disease as a society, especially within marginalised communities.

Founder: Jameisha Prescod

DBACE funding awarded: £10,000

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DBACE 2021 bursaries

As part of the DBACE programme’s wider support offering, an extra five memberships are offered with MeWe360 to creative entrepreneurs who drive social impact through their enterprise. The 12-month membership provides tailored business support to develop the entrepreneur and help them achieve their enterprise’s next milestones.

Birdsong

For people who want to dress with joy, support makers and protect the planet, Birdsong skillfully creates not-so-everyday staples and made-for-you pieces in the most ethical, socially impactful way possible. Birdsong makes clothes that are ethical, sustainable and made by talented women paid a fair wage.

Co-founders: Sophie Slater and Susanna Wen

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Kanaiza

Kanaiza is home to a global community of over 57,500 art lovers with a shared interest in black arts and culture. Started as a digital gallery on Instagram in 2019, Kanaiza is now respected and revered as an international tastemaker and advocate for inclusive economic black art. Kanaiza seeks to evolve through designing bespoke tech for overlooked black communities. Using 10 years of internal corporate research and two years working directly with real artists and art lovers, they now look to build a fitting tech platform for our stakeholders (the community).

Founder: Vanessa Onalo

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Lumer & The Sustainables

Lumer & The Sustainables is an interactive and DIY book that engages children around clean energy systems and teaches them how clean energy can be made through DIY activities. Produced and designed by Blake Carlson-Joshua, a product designer who seeks to create more products that engage youth around clean energy systems and environmentalism.

Founder: Blake Carlson-Joshua

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Naked Politics

Naked Politics is an organisation dedicated to engaging young people in political and social issues. In particular, they seek to amplify young people we hear from least in society, such as those who are working class, Black, People of Colour, women, LGBTQ+ and disabled.
Their activity comprises of online content from young contributors that aims to inform, educate and stimulate discussion about political/ social issues; and an Outreach Programme, which seeks to expand young people’s knowledge and participation in a variety of potential areas, from the basics of democracy, to running a campaigns on political/ social issues.

Founder: Banseka Kayembe

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Pivot (Make Pivot Ltd.)

Pivot is a social enterprise which teaches people experiencing homelessness to design, make and sell jewellery, whilst providing coaching and financial support. Pivot’s programmes are designed to help individuals grow in confidence and gain useful skills with the end goal of moving out of temporary accommodation into independent living and employment. Since starting in 2020, they have worked with 29 Makers across 4 homelessness services, providing over 750-hours of worked based training and 100 hours of 1-1 coaching and support.

Founder: Alice Moxley

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DBACE 2020 winners

DBACE 2020 received close to 430 entries from across the UK. The level of creativity, entrepreneurship and positive impact being made to society was as astounding as ever among applicants. Year on year, we bring together a group of experts in their fields to judge the finalists. Due to COVID-19 and the ongoing social distancing measures in place across the UK in June 2020, the award ceremony was hosted online. You can catch up on the event and read the detail via the link below.

Bethany Williams London

A clothing brand with a difference. Through collaboration with communities and charities, founder Bethany Williams creates collections embedded with real stories and aims to have a positive impact in the social space she engages with through the power of making. Each garment is made from recycled and organic materials and made in the UK, working alongside social projects and local manufacturers in the production. Through a circular model, a percentage of sales from each collection is donated back to the collaborating charity.

Founder: Bethany Williams

DBACE funding awarded: £10,000

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Enayball

A new visual arts tool designed to enable anyone with a physical disability, even the most severely paralysed person, to create art. Enayball can be attached to a wheelchair or used on a tabletop. The wheelchair application is at floor-level and paints a line as the user moves their chair. The user lifts the nib off the floor remotely, to control the paintbrush. The tabletop application is for people with limited grip/arm strength or experiencing involuntary movements, e.g. Cerebral Palsy. It is controlled using a button which applies the nib to paper and removes the need to hold a pen/paintbrush and apply pressure.

Co-founders: Eli Heath & Pete Barr

DBACE funding awarded: £8,000

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Make Your Own Masters

An art and design learning programme that enables individuals from any background to access postgraduate level education. MYOM tackles the financial limitations on accessing a postgraduate degree and focuses on making the industry a more exciting and diverse place. Through peer-learning and working on creative briefs from partners, participants build a body of creative work, a professional network and gain crucial access to industry.

Founder: Stacie Woolsey

DBACE funding awarded: £9,000

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Standing Ovation Project

A community hub in Birmingham which provides a platform for children to learn new creative skills through their in-house workshops as well as a space to showcase their work. An in-house radio station will give voice to pupils involved, develop their music production, DJing, and singing skills, whilst building upon important softer social skills. Standing Ovation Project also works with schools across the UK to raise the self-esteem and confidence of young pupils.

Founder: Anthony Daulphin

DBACE funding awarded: £5,000

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Word On The Curb

A youth insight and content agency, which stands to connect with underrepresented Millennial and Gen-Z audiences. Its research department and insights agency has an unmatched understanding of young consumers to consult major organisations on their creative campaigns. Over the past six years, strategies have been devised for the likes of the NHS, Channel 4 and the BBC on how to connect with similar demographics. Curbsights provides a scalable, accessible way for businesses to access the opinions of young people from hard to reach demographics, utilising this understanding to improve their marketing and communications.

Co-founders: Ndubuisi Uchea & Hayel Wartemberg

DBACE funding awarded: £18,000

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DBACE 2020 bursaries

As part of the DBACE programme’s wider support offering, an extra five memberships are offered with MeWe360 to creative entrepreneurs who drive social impact through their enterprise. The 12-month membership provides tailored business support to develop the entrepreneur and help them achieve their enterprise’s next milestones. Year on year, DBACE demonstrates such talent and we want the opportunity to support five entrepreneurs on top of the five winners. The offer was made to DBACE finalists and shortlisted applicants.

ForwardCulture

Based in Leicester, ForwardCulture is a social enterprise focusing on the empowerment of South Asian women. Having started with Two Brown Girls as a blog, the founders expanded their enterprise to build projects in collaboration with diverse artists, activists and creatives that inspire and empower the South Asian community.

Co-founders: Aaminah Patel and Seetal Kaur 

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Lumer & The Sustainables

Lumer & The Sustainables is an interactive and DIY book that engages children around clean energy systems and teaches them how clean energy can be made through DIY activities. Produced and designed by Blake Carlson-Joshua, a product designer who seeks to create more products that engage youth around clean energy systems and environmentalism.

Founder: Blake Carlson-Joshua

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My Runway Group

My Runway Group is an award-winning youth empowerment organisation focused on inspiring and developing young creatives from underrepresented backgrounds. Through various projects they raise awareness about the social issues impacting the progression of youth in the community.

Founder: Kojo Marfo

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The Common Sense Network

The Common Sense Network is an independent bi-partisan news network that believes there are two sides to every story and seeks to bring polarising views together by creating online and offline spaces for people who disagree to learn from each other.  

Founder: Michael Omoniyi

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Young Creators UK

Young Creators UK (YCUK) is a creative, social and entrepreneurial hub run by young people for young people. It aims to challenge the creative sector by bridging the gap between youth, business and community. Their work promotes pro-social attitudes whilst motivating young people to thrive, break down barriers and build successful sustainable careers. They provide affordable media to community groups and professional standard media to a broad range of clients.

Co-directors in receipt of business support: Yasmin Keil and Nhu Huynh

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DBACE 2019 winners

DBACE 2019 received almost 400 entries from across the UK. We were highly impressed by the applicants’ level of creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and the positive impact being made to society. Judged by an illustrious panel of sector experts, the five winners were selected from a shortlist of ten. The winners were announced on July 2, 2019 at the awards ceremony at The Conduit in Mayfair, London. Find out more about this year’s award via the link below.

Activate the City! 

Focusing on the disciplines of urban design and creative entrepreneurship, young people in Bristol are empowered to become community champions and work locally to transform vacant and redundant space that would otherwise be used for fly tipping, loitering and illegal activity. The youth-led transformations become public space to provide wider social and economic benefits in disadvantaged communities.

Founder: Karen Jelenje

DBACE prize money received: £5,000

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Black Ballad

A subscription lifestyle media brand empowering black women globally by celebrating their culture, community and stories. By championing black female writers and creators, the Black Ballad membership provides access to content, events and experiences that rebalance the lack of representation in media.

Founders: Tobi Oredein and Bola Awoniyi

DBACE prize money received: £15,000

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Bukky Baldwin

An ethical fashion and textiles company based in Manchester aiming to empower marginalised communities. The brand has been collaborating with refugee and homeless charities to provide individually catered training programmes that are both practical and holistic in nature.

Founder: Ibukun Jesusanmi Baldwin

DBACE prize money received: £5,000

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Mental Health: The Arts

An early intervention creative arts academy for young people in South London between the ages of 13 and 25 with direct and indirect experience of mental illness. Educating, equipping and empowering young people to cultivate creative coping mechanisms through talks, workshops and the arts.

Founder: Angela Awuah

DBACE prize money received: £12,500

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Petit Pli

Designing out waste across the entire garment value chain by engineering versatile garments that grow as the wearer does. The garments are embedded with a patent-pending auxetic structure, which expands bi directionally to mimic the growth of children aged nine months to four years – that’s seven sizes and seven times less waste.

Founder: Ryan Mario Yasin

DBACE prize money received: £12,500

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DBACE 2019 bursaries

As part of the new DBACE programme, an extra five memberships are offered with MeWe360 to creative entrepreneurs who drive social impact through their enterprise. The 12-month membership provides tailored business support to develop the entrepreneur and help them achieve their enterprise’s next milestones. DBACE 2019 demonstrated such talent that we wanted the opportunity to support five entrepreneurs on top of the five winners. The offer was made to DBACE shortlisted applicants as well as alumni whose mission falls within the new DBACE focus.

Big People Music

Big People Music is a creative agency curating and producing art innovation projects worldwide, utilising a network of established and emerging creatives. BPM is a progressive company that uses art as a tool to promote community cohesion. BPM’s services include creative consultancy & ideation, event curation, artist development and creative programming.

Founder: Tunde Adekoya

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black & brown

black & brown is a production company with the aim of producing films that centre the lives of members of the Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities through the unique lens of BAME directors and producers. We are strongly committed to increasing representation in front of and behind the camera.

Founders: Cassie Quarless and Usayd Younis

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hydroCotton

hydroCotton helps fashion brands reduce their environmental impact by growing radically sustainable cotton by:
1 – Growing cotton with up to 80% less water and fertiliser in a pesticide-free environment.
2 – Opening up windows throughout the supply chain, providing greater transparency and accountability from farm to fashion company.

Founders: Edward Hill, Edward Brial, John Bertolaso

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Migrate Art

Migrate Art is a social enterprise that supports displaced communities by raising money for grassroots charities through contemporary art.

Founder: Simon Butler

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Soundcastle

Soundcastle connects communities through expressive music-making and promotes broader imaginative thinking through coaching for creative practitioners, social entrepreneurs and training for arts facilitators. With developing action research hubs in East London, Sussex and Bristol, Soundcastle is seeking to further challenge and improve the quality of community music practice across the UK.

Founder: Rachael Perrin

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