Los Angeles-based Bien Motion Design has partnered with online motion-design educator, School of Motion, to offer eight scholarships to underrepresented students.

School of Motion offers relatively affordable online design courses to teach designers how to use such applications as Unreal Engine, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Cinema 4D and more. It also offers courses on life and business skills, such as tips on how to best operate as a freelance designer.

School of Motion currently offers a Community Inclusion Scholarship to provide educational resources to underrepresented groups within the motion design industry, with successful applicants receiving a free place on a course of their choice. In an extension of this, Bien will offer eight students who have completed their first course an additional scholarship for a second course of their choosing.

Selected recipients will be given career counseling, a portfolio review, industry tips, and access to the Bien Motion Survival Kit, which provides materials and resources designed to give up-and-coming motion designers information to help them navigate the field after graduation.

The new partnership is a further example of Bien's tactical work to improve inclusivity in the industry. This includes investing profits into a new generation of motion-graphic talent, embedding them into client projects to learn directly from senior creatives and build their portfolio.

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“The best way to move from intention to impact is to commit time and effort beyond the scholarships. Real changes don't happen overnight with one effort—that's why we strategically find many different ways to create change,” said Hung Le, creative director at Bien, in a statement. “In this, our goals align with the School of Motion's, and we know their offerings are effective because some of our own amazing animators took classes there, and continue to level up with their courses!”

“Empowering the next generation of designers and animators who will be creating the future of pop culture with inclusivity in mind is how we ‘design with, not for,'” Le continued. “This is still an experiment for us, and we hope to learn from this partnership and iterate on it. It does take a village to increase diversity and inclusion, and we are always reaching out to build that village one brick at a time.”