Digital Media | News

Adobe Commits to $1 Million in Creativity Scholarships

• By David Nagel
• 04/23/12

The Adobe Foundation has created a new scholarship program designed to encourage high schoolers to pursue careers in creative fields.

Creativity Scholarships
The Adobe Foundation Creativity Scholarship program is open to high school seniors who are Adobe Youth Voices participants.

Adobe Youth Voices is a program designed to give disadvantaged students an opportunity to learn and use multimedia tools to express their social views through various digital forms of media: music, Web design, video, and other forms of expression. Launched in 2006, the program has resulted so far in the creation of hundreds of individual programs serving students in 52 countries. In the United States, there are roughly 150 centers, many of them located on school campuses, spread out over several states. Schools and organizations designated as Youth Voices sites receive software, teacher and student training, and financial assistance for the production and exhibition of the works of participants.

"With Adobe Foundation Scholarships we are reinforcing our commitment to closing the creativity gap," said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe, in a prepared statement. "Our vision for this scholarship fund is to support the next generation of creative thinkers and propel the future careers of those who create."

The first round of Creative Scholarship applications will take place in spring 2013, with awards to be rolled out in fall 2013.

Attitudes Toward Creativity
To coincide with the launch of the scholarships, Adobe has released a benchmark study on attitudes toward creativity in education, the workplace, and the home. Among other things, the study found that the majority of Americans believe that the educational system in this country is stifling creativity. Additional details can be found in our separate coverage.

"The urge to create has never been stronger, and the ability to create is unprecedented, yet a new global study shows that most people feel they are not living up to their own creative potential," Narayen said. "We challenge the notion that creativity is reserved for an elite few, and believe that no matter what you do, everyone has the potential to be creative."

Additional details about the awards program can be found on the Adobe Youth Voices site. The State of Create global benchmark study can be accessed on Adobe's site in PDF form.