FAQs

Established in 2013, the Swarovski Foundation is set up as a UK-registered charity (charity number: 1153618) and brings focus to the Swarovski company's historical commitment to philanthropy. The Swarovski Foundation’s mission is to achieve a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable society by supporting charitable initiatives working in 3 focus areas: Culture and Creativity, Human Empowerment, and Environment in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations. Since its inception, the Swarovski Foundation has reached 1.6 million people across 87 countries supporting 85 organizations worldwide and 12 global emergencies. You can find out more at www.swarovskifoundation.org.

The Swarovski Foundation’s registered office is 1st Floor, Building 4 Chiswick Park, 566 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 5YE, United Kingdom. The team is based in London (United Kingdom), Wattens (Austria) and New York (USA). The Swarovski Foundation operates globally through a network of international partners and stakeholders which includes the United Nations Office for Partnerships.

The Swarovski Foundation Creatives for Our Future program is a global mentorship and grant initiative established in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships. The program aims to accelerate the next generation of creatives in sustainable development and is open to creatives aged 21-30, across various creative disciplines including jewelry, fashion, art, design, architecture, videography, photography, and engineering. Selected grantees will receive financial support, tailored mentorship, access to unique educational masterclasses, and industry networking events in support of their developing practices with the program commencing in September 2023.

As part of its mission, the Swarovski Foundation is committed to fostering emerging creative talent by funding educational charities and institutions working across fashion, jewelry, design and sustainable innovation.

Within the Creatives for Our Future program framework, participants will collectively drive progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the blueprint for a better world by 2030 as laid out by the United Nations in 2015. The Swarovski Foundation and the United Nations recognize the creative industry’s potential for generational leadership in sustainable development.

Successful applicants will have a keen interest in, demonstration of, or exemplary potential to use the creative process to accelerate awareness, technologies, or solutions for sustainable development. The selection criteria will consider the application of creative processes in examining social and environmental issues and accelerating sustainable development, within communities or globally, using the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework. The successful applicants will be required to attend all the activities organized during the program (around 3-4 times a month from October 2023 – April 2024), and applicants will be asked for their availability during the program. Additionally, a high-level network event to launch the program will take place in New York (USA), and successful applicants will be required to travel to New York. You can find more details in the program Terms & Conditions (https://www.sfcreatives.org/terms-and-conditions) The selection process will follow the criteria listed below: compliance with age requirements potential for creative practice, research, or project to further the Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) how the applicant’s work/research aims to generate a positive impact in sustainability the impact of the grant on the effective development of the applicant’s creative practice or project (intention for how the grant will be spent) quality of application answers and the readiness of the applicant to achieve highly in their research/studies

The Swarovski Foundation look for creative practices, research, projects, concepts, or objects reflecting an exemplary dedication and potential to drive sustainable development.

Creative categories that are not supported as part of the Creatives for Our Future program include creative writing and journalism including novels, stories, poems, screenplays, poetries, essays, and song lyrics. As well as music and other performing arts. The Creatives for Our Future program aims to equip the next generation of creatives with the education and network to lead tangible innovative solutions such as, but not limited to, innovative materials, and devices to scale up sustainable production systems or to protect natural resources.

The Swarovski Foundation supports partner organizations worldwide with a wide range of beneficiaries with different needs. The Creatives for Our Future program aims to support the needs of the “young adult” population by lifting financial barriers to sustainable development practices in design for students and young professionals. As the operational definition and nuances of the term “young adult” often varies from country to country, depending on the specific socio-cultural, institutional, economic and political factors, the Swarovski Foundation has outlined “young adult” as being between the ages of 21 and 30 years old.

Yes, you can still apply for the program if you turn 30 after the application deadline. Your age must be between 21 and 30 before the deadline for applications on 28th June 2023 (11.59PM BST).

No, you do not have to be based in a specific country to apply. The Creatives for Our Future program is open to all creatives wherever they live. However, it is required for successful applicants to travel to New York in September to participate in program events. Therefore, this means that we would need successful participants to confirm that they have a valid passport endorsed with all relevant visas, entry requirements and/or any other mandatory entry obligations. You can find more information in the Terms and Conditions (https://www.sfcreatives.org/terms-and-conditions)

No, the project or creative practice does not need to focus on crystal.

No, you don’t need to have a registered business or be in education to apply for the program. The only requirement is that you provide all the information and supporting materials outlined in the application form and that your age is between 21-30 at the time of the application. You will also need to provide 1 academic/professional reference.

Applications will only be accepted from individuals and individuals who apply on behalf of their sole proprietorship or a company that they wholly own.

Online applications will be open until 27th June 2023 (11:59pm BST) on the website www.sfcreatives.org. Successful applicants will be notified in August 2023 and announced in September 2023 during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Applications will be carefully reviewed and shortlisted applicants will be contacted by the Swarovski Foundation team to schedule an online interview. The application panel will include leadership from the Swarovski Foundation and the United Nations Office for Partnerships as well as program advocates. The application panel will make their final selections by marking the quality of the application (demonstration of creativity and/or innovation), the applicant’s ability to articulate how the grant, education and mentorship will contribute to their project(s), research, or creative practice, and the applicant’s exemplary potential to contribute to sustainable development. Successful applicants will be notified in August 2023.

If you have submitted your application but have not received a confirmation email within 24 hours, please contact cfof@swarovskifoundation.org

The third edition of the Creatives for Our Future program will run for 8 months from September 2023 to April 2024.

Successful applicants will receive a grant of €20,000 each in two instalments. The first instalment will be 75% of the total grant and the second instalment will be the remaining 25% of the total grant.

The Creatives for Our Future program will allow successful participants to access a broad network of partners across the creative industries, not limited to the Swarovski company's facilities. Wherever possible, the program will try to arrange for participants to get access to the resources and facilities they need to develop their research.

This diverse group of program mentors and advocates will include internationally renowned figures in disciplines such as sustainable fashion systems, architecture, art and design, materials science, water conservation, social justice, business strategy, engineering, climate action, academia, sustainable development, and supply chain management. Throughout the program, successful applicants will be provided support to develop the innovations and practices outlined in their applications and drive progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the United Nations.

The masterclasses and mentor sessions are going to be delivered online. During these events, participants will be able to present their work, network with industry peers, ask questions and receive feedback from their respective mentors.

Your mentor sessions, as well as all other planned program activities, will be scheduled by the Swarovski Foundation team. They will be regularly in touch with you to ensure that these mentor sessions and program activities fit within your schedule and work commitments. The Swarovski Foundation team will facilitate all aspects of communications with your mentors and creative partners.

The Swarovski Foundation team will follow the progress of each cohort member through regular online meetings, and work with them to document their projects throughout the Creatives for Our Future program. The team will schedule mid-program check-in calls and ask cohort members to submit progress reports in December 2023.

In order to record cohort member participation and project or creative practice development throughout the course of the program, the Swarovski Foundation team will get in touch with successful applicants to request and support content development and communications assets such as images and videos. These assets will be used to promote and showcase the work of the cohort across global communications and digital campaigns (including the Creatives for Our Future website and the Swarovski Foundation website, social media platforms, email marketing newsletters, and media outreach). The requested assets will initially include: · a short biography · a link to a personal website (if applicable) · 5-10 images of creative work · short Q&A on your sustainable practices · potential further content Throughout the course of the program, the Swarovski Foundation team will offer further guidance and support for the cohort to produce a digital portfolio for visibility through digital storytelling, the inclusion of news stories for the website and dedicated newsletters. Images and assets may also be used for program progress reports.