Learn more about The Create Fund’s mission to support creative professionals representing diversity and inclusion in their work.
In 2023, Shutterstock’s Create Fund connected with more artists and organizations than ever in pursuit of broadening representation in the stock content industry. Created in 2020 with the mission of increasing inclusivity and representation within Shutterstock’s content library, The Create Fund became a multi-pronged initiative that supports emerging artists from diverse backgrounds and diversity initiatives with like-minded partners.
Shutterstock is committed to ensuring our content represents a globally diverse world. This commitment means offering a range of perspectives on our content and the artists who create it.
As part of this commitment, we believe in the value of investing in underrepresented talent and making space for them to tell stories using their voice while managing the complexities of commercial licensing requirements.
In 2023, 24 new artists from 11 different countries joined The Create Fund under the Artist Investment Program. These artists collectively received over $200,000.00 in grants to produce unique, progressive, and diversified work exclusively for the Shutterstock content library.
Through developing relationships with these artists and listening to their stories, we asked them to reimagine stock content and produce one-of-a-kind work that challenges the conventional notions of our industry.
As a result, we welcomed new work onto the Shutterstock marketplace that thoughtfully represents the cultures and communities of Create Fund artists.
To get a taste of some of this work, view the New Create Fund Image Collection and listen to the 2023 Create Fund Music Playlist.
License these images via WomanPower, XIANG LOONG YIP, Alisha Vasudev, Nyancho NwaNri, Elizabeth Rajchart, and Raimundo cavalhier.
Create Fund Contributor Contests
Thinking beyond awarding grants to underrepresented artists, Shutterstock was also eager to engage with our existing global contributor community in new ways. We wanted to get contributors to embrace their own stories and reward those promoting diversity through their content submissions with cash prizes.
Accordingly, in 2023, Shutterstock launched Create Fund Contributor Contests.
License these images via Mkosi Omkhulu, Charlee Black, WomanPower, and Awa Mally.
From depictions of holidays to unexpected bonds to exploring the idea of your unique self, the Create Fund Contributor Contests were a series of briefs that invited Shutterstock contributors to challenge the stock content status quo and depict concepts or scenarios from their perspectives.
In response, Shutterstock contributors submitted over 24,000 images and videos that explored the briefs in original ways and displayed different styles of life around the world. The 15 contributors who created winning work were awarded cash prizes totaling $5,000.
As part of engaging with our existing contributor community, we teamed up with three Shutterstock contributors located around the world to co-produce images for the Shutterstock library.
Similarly to the Artist Investment Program, these co-productions provide funds to artists in specific locations to produce content with their insider’s perspective, while also meeting the needs of Shutterstock customers in their markets.
License these images via Awa Mally, SALMONNEGRO-STOCK, Raimundo Cavalhier, Mbuso Sydwell Nkosi, Alisha Vasudev, and XIANG LOONG YIP.
In 2023, we co-produced a series of bright and jovial images depicting a Brazilian family at home with Brazilian photographer Julia Amaral, a realistic medical shoot with Canadian photography agency Hero Images, a day-in-the-life family series in the United Kingdom with Image Source, and narrative photographs of a multi-generational family in Mumbai by Indian photographer Alisha Vasudev. More co-produced content by Shutterstock contributors is in the works for 2024!
Partnering up with like-minded organizations has long been a part of The Create Fund’s initative. We believe in the power of collaboration and learning from other experts in the field who help drive diverse representation in creative content.
Early in 2023, we partnered with African Women in Photography, an organization/community dedicated to elevating and celebrating the work of women and non binary photographers from Africa.
With African Women in Photography, we produced a webinar overviewing the opportunities available with the Artist Investment Program. As a result, we onboarded and awarded grants to four uniquely talented artists from the African continent: Hind Bouqartacha, Charmaine Chitate, Andiswa Mkosi, and Ugomma Ugochukwu. Through these grants, they will be creating exclusive work for Shutterstock that represents life in their local communities.
Another partnership we proudly formed in 2023 was with ImageNATIVE, the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous film and media arts. The ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, launched in 2000, is the organization’s primary activity and was founded to support the diverse contemporary work of Indigenous directors, producers, and screenwriters working in film, video, audio, and digital media.
License these images via Raimundo Cavalhier, Nyancho NwaNri, S Marcus, and Alee’a Ulsh-Cherry.
Shutterstock’s Create Fund sponsored their 2023 Audience Choice Feature Award whose recipient, Café Daughter, received $3,000.00. Additionally, to reach more artists from ImageNATIVE’s community, we held a webinar in partnership with the ImageNATIVE film festival, giving artists insights into our Artist Investment Program.
For our third partnership of 2023, we teamed up with the New York Latino Film Festival to award two Latino artists, Dileiny Cruz and Ramon Pesante, grants to create exclusive content for our library.
Each artist received $10,000.00 and will be creating exclusive work for Shutterstock that explores scenarios outlined in the MyHispanicHeritage brief through their own lens. Keep an eye out for their content coming to Shutterstock in 2024.
As part of Shutterstock’s investment in underrepresented artists, we are constantly looking for new opportunities we can bring to this community. Throughout the year, we connected artists to special editorial opportunities that expanded their reach and brought a different viewpoint to these events.
Grant recipient Elizabeth Rajchart, who is a photographer and speaker with a passion for her disability community, shot the 2023 New York Fashion Week bringing refreshing diversity both behind and in front of the lens.
German Vazquez, also a 2022 grant winner, photographed music legend Gloria Gaynor at the Tribeca Film Festival on assignment with Shutterstock Editorial. German also worked with Shutterstock Editorial at a “Cast of Outlander” event at 92NY which was featured in People Magazine, photo #46.
And lastly, this wouldn’t be a proper 2023 recap without the mention of AI Generative technology bursting into our worlds sparking new possibilities and new questions in equal parts.
To help us think through the new possibilities and the new questions from an artist’s perspective, we spoke to 2022 grant winner and visual artist Jah Reynolds who uses AI in his own work. During this conversation, Jah talked through the pros and cons of AI Generative technology and its potential to impact the future of creativity. This conversation helped to amplify the voice of many artists who are navigating this emerging technology and highlight different considerations we can take with us moving into a future with AI Generative.
License these images via Djavan Rodriguez, gabllima, Raimundo Cavalhier, and Mkosi Omkhulu.
Shutterstock is grateful to the artists and organizations that worked with the Create Fund throughout 2023. It’s a privilege to be able to listen and learn from such a wide variety of people and perspectives. As stock content providers that strive to empower the world to tell their stories, it’s our responsibility to keep our content offer representative of as many stories as possible.
In 2024, we will keep exploring the possibilities of the Create Fund and how it can continue to champion diversity in the stock industry space. If you are interested in receiving a grant and helping us challenge the status quo, tell us more with our open enrollment application.
License this cover image via Mbuso Sydwell Nkosi.
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