The University of Delaware announces the generous gift of the international award-winning creative advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy in the establishment of the Wieden+Kennedy Visual Communications Scholarship, a 4-year tuition scholarship at the UD Department of Art and Design.
The scholarship, beginning in the academic year of 2021/22, will be offered to an undergraduate student enrolled in the Visual Communications program and awarded based on the recommendation of the Department of Art and Design Visual Communications program. The selected recipient will be from an underrepresented population and will be a resident of the state of Delaware. The scholarship will award tuition totaling $60,000 over the recipient's 4-year enrollment. In addition, for a student engaging in a 4-year degree starting next year, that student would have 3 summer internship opportunities with Wieden and the opportunity of a job with W+K at the end of the 4th year.
"It's a huge priority for me personally, and for all of us at Wieden, to make sure underrepresented talent has equal access to a career in the creative industry. Agencies thrive when our talent reflects a wide variety of perspectives and interests beyond advertising," said Karl Lieberman, global chief creative officer at Wieden+Kennedy.
"There are a lot of great ad schools out there, but most of them are post-grad institutions," said Lieberman. "It's important for there to be a broader path into this business that doesn't involve a bunch of extra years of schooling and a lot more student debt. That's been a huge barrier for our industry. And University of Delaware is about much more than teaching people to make ads; the school teaches students about the larger world of creativity – about fine art, and design and photography — and about honing their unique points of view."
In 2020, Wieden+Kennedy was named Fast Company's Most Innovative company in advertising for the third year in a row, and has also been selected as Agency of the Year by both Adweek and AdAge for three years running. Among its eight offices globally, W+K's client partners include legendary brands like Anheuser-Busch InBev, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, Facebook, Ford, KFC, Kraft Heinz, McDonald's, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, and Uber.
To request information on how to apply for this scholarship, please email Greg Shelnutt, Chair of the UD Department of Art and Design. gshelnu@udel.edu
Images: "1972" by UD FA grad and W+K Junior Designer Xander Opiyo - A collection of handmade collages responding to world events through the lens of Black America. "America Is Talking" - This piece repurposes Wilhelm Lehmbruck's sculpture Seated Youth (1917) to represent the worldwide effort of those who have had enough of systemic racism/police brutality, and are calling for immediate change.
