Ten students from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) have been awarded the Maharam STEAM Fellowship in Applied Art and Design. In recognition of the ongoing evidence from RISD that artists and designers make a huge impact on a broad range of fields, the NY-based textiles company Maharam has generously funded these fellowship opportunities for RISD students for five consecutive years. This is the second year of the program and will build on a successful first year that saw students contributing their creative thinking and art and design talents to NPR Science, the Mayo Clinic, the City of Providence, the National Defense University and GlobeMed.
The Maharam STEAM Fellowship in Applied Art and Design provides stipends of up to $5,000 each for selected internships with a government agency or nonprofit organization. The accepted proposals, submitted in early 2013, were each uniquely designed by students to focus on highlighting and strengthening the role of visually acute critical thinkers and problem solvers in helping to improve public policy and tackle large social issues.
Maharam is supporting this fellowship program because, like RISD, the company believes in the economic progress and breakthrough innovation that comes from the combination of art and design with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) – that STEM + Art = STEAM. Both believe that a strong societal embrace of the arts and design will create a more vibrant and promising future, both culturally and economically.
For more information, visit risd.edu or our.risd.edu.