AMSTERDAM — April 21, 2021 — WeTransfer, the B Corp company with a set of tools for the creative process, announces the creation of WeTransfer’s Supporting Act Foundation to support emerging creative talent through arts education, grants, and an annual prize.
WeTransfer’s Supporting Act Foundation will be constituted as an independent charity in the Netherlands but will operate across a wider geography including the US, UK, Italy, France and Germany, with the potential to expand to other countries in the future.
WeTransfer will endow the foundation with an initial €1M in 2022 and commit 1% of revenue* on an ongoing basis. The first bursaries and grants will be allocated in 2022.
WeTransfer’s Supporting Act Foundation will provide funding to young creatives including artists, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, or designers to enable them to study at home and abroad. In addition, it will operate a programme of grants, offering awards for work that align with WeTransfer’s B Corp values of sustainability, responsibility, and inclusivity.
The foundation will also oversee an annual prize, the WeTransfer Award for Creative Excellence. This award will be based on a single challenge issued each year to arts institutions, universities, and individuals from all branches of the creative arts.
Commenting, WeTransfer Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Damian Bradfield says:
“WeTransfer has always played an active role in supporting the arts, from high profile talent including FKA Twigs, Lily Cole, Bernadine Evaristo, Ann Philbin, Gilles Peterson, Troy Carter and Stephen Fry to emerging artists. As we’ve grown, so have our ambitions and commitment to finding new ways to be there for up and coming creative talent.
“The launch of WeTransfer’s Supporting Act Foundation is an important step as we build further on this legacy. Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the arts, with a negative impact on patronage, sponsorship, and other opportunities – particularly for those without connections.
“Our ambition is for WeTransfer’s Supporting Act Foundation to help fill part of this vacuum, providing a helping hand to talented artists and creators at the start of their careers, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds.”
WeTransfer’s Supporting Act Foundation is the latest step in a sequence of initiatives to support the creative community and the arts.
Since its launch in 2010 WeTransfer has donated up to 30% of its advertising space to raise awareness for up-and-coming artists and creative work.
In 2014, support for arts education began with a partnership with Central Saint Martin’s in London, to provide bursaries to students on its groundbreaking Material Futures MA course.
This educational support was stepped up a level in 2016 when WeTransfer launched the world’s first free Master of the Arts in Experience Design with the University of the Underground.
*A donation of a maximum of 1% of the revenue on an annual basis will be made from WeTransfer from 2022 onwards. This will include the €1 million dedicated for the establishment of the foundation.
About WeTransfer
Having made its name in the game of quick and simple file-sharing, WeTransfer has grown into an end-to-end suite of digital solutions used by more than 70 million people in 190 countries every month. WeTransfer’s set of tools are specifically designed to enable creative professionals to inspire, conceive, share, and deliver their work. Collect is the go-to app people turn to for saving and sharing inspiration. Paste® is the collaborative presentation tool of choice for fast-moving teams. Paper® helps creative minds sketch, paint, and draw on iOS. And of course there’s the original file-sharing platform. Around 75% of WeTransfer users identify as creatives, and its this global community the company exists to celebrate and inspire on WePresent, WeTransfer’s editorial platform to 4m monthly readers.
As a certified B Corporation WeTransfer strives to use business as a force for good. Since the beginning WeTransfer has donated up to 30% of advertising real estate to raise awareness for artists, creative work, and the world’s most pressing issues such as climate change and gun control. This amounts to more than $300 million to date and has led to partnerships with artists and organizations like Marina Abramovic, Björk, FKA twigs, Ryan McGinley, Solange Knowles, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the UN Development Program.