The underlying issue is that for designers entering into the profession, honing new skills, networking, and career decisions can be daunting. Emerging professionals often disconnect from AIGA at a moment in their career when membership value is key and building personal relationships for future leadership roles becomes critical.
Our solution: EMERGE Awareness Week, launched in 2016, with eight chapters involved. Since then, EMERGE events have been happening across the country. Chapters have created chair positions on their boards that support the initiative and have cross-promoted other chapters’ EMERGE experiences, generating a wider level of accessibility. EMERGE is transforming how we interconnect our communities and respond to key member needs, especially through the lens of diverse and equitable inclusion.
Thanks to the July 2017 AIGA Innovate Grant awarded and a powerful partnership with the Diversity and Inclusion National Task Force, EMERGE 2.0 is on the rise with aims to advance diversity in member/non-member participation and prepare our emerging design workforce for the future. This critical phase in development is the result of the collective efforts of the following chapter leader allies.
EMERGE 2.0 TEAM
The EMERGE 2.0 team consists of AIGA leaders from around the country that convened using several online collaborative tools to conceptualize, develop and create EMERGE 2.0.
Chapter: AIGA Minnesota
President, AIGA Minnesota
Chapter: AIGA Minnesota
President Emeritus, AIGA Dallas Fort Worth
Co-Chair, Design for Democracy (AIGA National)
Chapter: AIGA Dallas Fort Worth
D&I Nat’l Task Force, AIGA National
Chapter: AIGA Washington, DC
D&I Nat’l Task Force
Chapter: AIGA Atlanta
Chapter: AIGA Austin
Chapter: AIGA Washington, DC
Chapter: AIGA Wichita
Chapter: AIGA Austin
D&I Nat’l Task Force
Chapter: AIGA New York
President, AIGA Blue Ridge
Chapter: AIGA Blue Ridge
Chapter: AIGA Seattle
Chapter: AIGA Austin
Copywriter
Chapter: AIGA Boston
Secretary, AIGA Minnesota
Chapter: AIGA Minnesota
President, AIGA Mobile
Chapter: AIGA Mobile
Chapter: AIGA Austin
Chapter: AIGA Chicago
D&I Nat’l Task Force, chair
Chapter: AIGA Cleveland
Chapter: AIGA Kansas City
Chapter: AIGA Minnesota
Chapter: AIGA Baltimore
Chapter: AIGA San Diego
Chapter: AIGA Upstate New York
Chapter: AIGA Blue Ridge
D&I Nat’l Task Force, AIGA National
Chapter: AIGA Chicago
Chapter: AIGA El Paso
D&I Nat’l Task Force, AIGA National
Chapter: Rhode Island
Chapter: San Diego
Incoming Presidents Council Chair
President Emeritus, AIGA Seattle
Chapter: AIGA Seattle