Shutterstock Launches The Create Fund

New $300,000 grant program aimed at supporting underrepresented artists

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE:SSTK), a leading global creative platform offering full-service solutions for brands, businesses and media in need of high-quality content, tools and services, today announced The Create Fund, a $300,000 artist grant program. The Create Fund provides financial and professional support for artists around the globe focusing on diversity, inclusion, social justice and environmental awareness through the content they create.

Through The Create Fund, Shutterstock aims to fill content gaps and further diversity and inclusion within its content library and contributor network. The financial and professional support will be offered to underrepresented artists who are advancing the global mission of diversity and inclusion through their visual content. To increase the reach of the grant program, The Create Fund will be partnering with a variety of leading organizations to support giving back and engaging with a variety of artist communities.

At launch, grants offered through The Create Fund include:

• Create for Climate: Drawing awareness to global climate change by supporting artists who use their talents to depict climate change, environmental protests, and our changing landscape.
• Support Invisible Illness: Promoting artists who create visual stories and representations that break the stigma around mental health, portraying a more inclusive view of mental illness around the world.
• The Senior Creatives: Supporting our community of senior creatives—those over 50 who have had years to hone their craft and want to share their experiences and perspectives through creative means.

"Representation, whether behind or in front of the lens, is integral in creating authentic content that accurately reflects the world around us," said Kristen Sanger, Sr. Director of Contributor Marketing at Shutterstock. "With The Create Fund, we're hoping to use this global platform to showcase the stunning, interesting, and culturally relevant imagery that reflects the beautifully diverse world we live in, as well as support and enable more artists to create and share their unique and artistic perspectives."

Artists including photographers, videographers, illustrators, composers or writers are open and encouraged to apply. Applicants must submit a project proposal, examples of their work, and a short biography by February 8, 2021 to be considered for the first three grants. Grant recipients will be selected by a diverse panel of expert judges who are knowledgeable in the various genres of grants Shutterstock will be offering. All artists selected for a grant will be provided an outlet to license their work, either via Shutterstock, Shutterstock Editorial, Premium Beat or OFFSET.

To learn more about The Create Fund, visit https://www.shutterstock.com/explore/create-fund

About Shutterstock
Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), directly and through its group subsidiaries, is a leading global provider of high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations, videos and music to businesses, marketing agencies and media organizations around the world. Working with its growing community of over 1 million contributors, Shutterstock adds hundreds of thousands of images each week, and currently has more than 350 million images and more than 20 million video clips available.

Headquartered in New York City, Shutterstock has offices around the world and customers in more than 150 countries. The company's brands also include Bigstock, a value-oriented stock media offering; Shutterstock Custom, a custom content creation platform; Offset, a high-end image collection; PremiumBeat, a curated royalty-free music library; and Shutterstock Editorial, a premier source of editorial images and videos for the world's media.

For more information, please visit www.shutterstock.com and follow Shutterstock on Twitter and on Facebook.

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