We have Pursuit Fund winners! We’ll be spotlighting the three winners here on the AIGA blog.

First, a bit about the Pursuit Fund and how everything went down. We all have projects and ideas that we’d love to get off the ground, if we only had the funds. That’s where the Pursuit Fund comes in. Our goal was to both help North Carolina designers reach their dreams and make a difference in our community.

From art and printing projects to teaching and learning opportunities, we received some amazing applications. Our judges, Amber Howard, Napoleon Wright, and Jason Hibbets, had their work cut out for them. After some deliberation, but no hair pulling, they decided on their three favorite projects.

And…

Well, you’ll just have to check back see the other two projects. Now I’ll turn it over to our first Pursuit Fund recipient, Hayley Hughes to tell you about her Pursuit.

“For my Pursuit, I will be proposing workshop-style courses to teach in India next Summer. In 2001, my design history professor taught on a Fulbright grant at schools in Bombay, Bangalore, and other regions of the country over a four month period. Over a decade since she taught, my dream is to be on the ground to see what is going on in graphic design and design education across the world.

During my work as a graphic designer at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, I became interested in teaching in India , learning about the art, religion, and history of the Himalayan regions of Asia. Currently, there are conferences and much conversation in India about the role of design and the type of design education that takes place across different parts of the country. Design pedagogy has expanded to include more community-driven design initiatives and human-centered design approaches. Yet, there is still a need to preserve India’s historical design roots in industry and the arts and crafts.

In the Summer of 2009, I held a design internship in Shanghai, China. I can easily say that spending time practicing and/or teaching in a new cultural environment truly challenges your personal assumptions about existing cultures and forces you to re-examine the world with a new set of eyes. I have yet to find a greater privilege as a designer than to share my interests and experiences with a community rich with differences from my own. Through this teaching opportunity, I hope to share my work and observations in India, offering  my local community insight from a global perspective.

A huge thanks and much gratitude to AIGA Raleigh chapter, the Pursuit Fund & judges, and the design community for all the support in this venture!”

-Hayley

Let me take a moment to thank the judges for giving up valuable time in the evening to help us pick the winners. They were stellar. And a huge thanks goes out to all the people who submitted applications, we hope to see your pursuits again.

This was just the first year for the Pursuit Fund and we couldn’t be more excited with where it’s headed. Stay tuned as we post updates from the Pursuit Funders while they bring their projects to life.

Finally, I hope this has sparked something inside. A long-forgotten dream or a “what-if” project. The Pursuit Fund will be an ongoing program to help you, your fellow designers, and our community. It’s never too early to start thinking about what you’ll pursue.