Royal College of Art announces LoveFrom Scholarship for underrepresented minority design students

Up to two underrepresented minority students per year will be offered scholarships that cover tuition and some living expenses to study design courses that reflect LoveFrom’s multidisciplinary expertise.

LoveFrom is a creative collective of designers, architects, musicians, filmmakers, writers, engineers and artists. The scholarships are inspired by a shared ethos of insatiable curiosity, devotion to excellence and an obsession with the traditions of creating and making. The collective was founded in 2019 by Sir Jony Ive, former chief design officer of Apple, and has studios in San Francisco and London. LoveFrom has gifted $1.5m to support scholarships that aim to increase representation by encouraging and supporting routes into industry for underrepresented minorities.

“We are very proud to be able to support and encourage outstanding new talent at the Royal College of Art through the LoveFrom Scholarship,” said Sir Jony Ive, RCA Chancellor. “The scholarships deepen my long connection with the RCA, an extraordinary, historic and powerful creative institution with an international reputation for excellence in art and design. By supporting talented students who deserve to be able to study at the highest level, LoveFrom hopes to contribute to a community that shares our insatiable curiosity and obsession with creating and making.”

Students receiving the scholarship will also be mentored by Sir Jony Ive and the LoveFrom team. The scholarships are part of a programme of global LoveFrom Scholarships which support people from underrepresented communities into art and design education, with other scholarships being awarded at the Rhode Island School of Design and California College of the Arts in the US.

Dr Paul Thompson, Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, said: “As the world’s leading university for art and design, we want to continue to attract the most creative, innovative and talented students from a range of backgrounds. These scholarships form a vital part of our work to grow and diversify the RCA’s community of artists, designers, innovators, communicators, creatives and researchers, and I’d like to thank LoveFrom for their generous support.”

The LoveFrom Scholarship has been established via RCA USA with the support of LoveFrom and will be awarded to students within the RCA’s School of Design, providing viable and visible pathways into art and design.

As part of its commitment to making postgraduate study open to people from all backgrounds, the RCA is increasing the number of scholarships available to students experiencing financial hardship. This growth has been supported by gifts from a large number of foundations, individuals and commercial organisations, including:

• The RCA Virgil Abloh Scholarship, which will support financially restricted, Black British students on any programme in the School of Design.
• The Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship, which supports UK students from Black African and Caribbean diaspora heritage, or mixed Black African and Caribbean diaspora heritage, across MA, MRes and PhD study.
• The RCA Logitech Scholarships, which provide scholarships for students on any course from underrepresented communities and facing financial hardship.
• The Märit Rausing Scholarships in Ceramics & Glass, which will award six annual scholarships of £35,000 each year over the next two decades, opening up higher level study in this area to people from a wide range of financial backgrounds.
• The Marks and Spencer Bursary, which supports MA Fashion students from the UK experiencing financial hardship.

For more information on applying for a scholarship at the RCA, visit: https://www.rca.ac.uk/study/application-process/funding-your-studies/rca-scholarships-and-awards/

ENDS

For further information please contact the RCA Press Office: [email protected].

Notes to Editors

About the Royal College of Art

Founded in 1837, the Royal College of Art is the world's leading university of art and design. Specialising in teaching and research, the RCA offers degrees of MA, MPhil, MRes and PhD across the disciplines of architecture, arts & humanities, design and communication.

A small, specialist and research-intensive postgraduate university based in the heart of London, the RCA provides 2500 students with unrivalled opportunities to deliver art and design projects that transform the world.

The RCA's approach is founded on the premise that art, design, creative thinking, science, engineering and technology must all collaborate to solve today's global challenges.

The RCA is home to more than 700 of the world’s leading academic and professional staff who teach and develop students in 30 academic programmes. RCA students are exposed to new knowledge in a way that encourages them to experiment.

The RCA runs joint courses with Imperial College London and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

InnovationRCA, the university's centre for enterprise, entrepreneurship, incubation and business support, has helped over 78 RCA business ideas become a reality that has led to the creation of over 800 UK jobs.

Alumni include such major figures as Dame Barbara Hepworth, Bridget Riley, Henry Moore OM, David Hockney OM, Sir Peter Blake, Sir Ridley Scott, Dame Zandra Rhodes, Sir Frank Bowling, Sir James Dyson OM, Tracey Emin RA CBE, Chris Ofili CBE, Sir Anthony Finkelstein, Francesca Amfitheatrof, Sir David Adjaye, Erdem Moralıoğlu MBE, Bianca Saunders and Thomas Heatherwick CBE RDI.

The RCA was named the world's leading university of art and design in the QS World Rankings 2023 for the ninth consecutive year (QS World Subject Rankings 2015-2023).

www.rca.ac.uk

About RCA BLK
The RCA Black Student and Alumni Association was co founded by Emily Moore and Roxanne Simone in June 2020, along with its founding members Melanie Issaka, Andy Hart, Josh Woolford, Jerome Ince-Mitchell, Ibrahim Cisse, Michael Forbes, Sheran Forbes and Timi Oyedeji and so many more members and friends who continue to support our growing community.

Its core objectives are to promote, improve and advance education by encouraging and supporting the practice of contemporary visual artists who identify as Black within the RCA’s wider community. We aim to do so by fostering relationships with pre-enrolled students, current students as well as alumni.

RCA BLK will positively impact students' experience from the African diaspora and build upon the rich legacies of the RCA student body. We look forward to welcoming the visionaries of the future to our growing community whilst we continue to expand the discourse and conversations around contemporary art and design.

About RCA USA

RCA USA – with the support of RCA students, alumni and supporters in the US – helps achieve international standards of excellence in postgraduate education for artists and designers which closely aligns with the RCA and its long history.