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The Spring Design Catalyst Program
January - June 2025The Program
The 2025 Spring Design Catalyst is a competitive business development program with the potential of milestone based reimbursement grant funding for Providence creative businesses. This program provides business mentorship, professional development training, peer-to-peer networking, and potential seed capital. Creative businesses are selected after an application process involving interviews, reviews of potential strategic growth milestones, and financial sustainability assessments. Funding will be awarded through reimbursement grants. Read more about milestones and the reimbursement model below.
All selected businesses must:
- Participate in all development, skill-building classes and coursework over the course of the program (a combination of virtual classes and in-person classes in Providence).
- Participate in the final public presentation event.
- Meet with their mentor weekly for the first 3 months of the program.
- Schedule and attend 3 meetings with Catalyst’s financial advisor during the program.
All selected businesses will receive:
- A dedicated mentor to assist in specific growth goals.
- The possibility of grant funds ranging from $1,500-$15,000 (contingent on attendance of all classes, completion of all associated coursework, and consistent meetings with mentor).
The Timeline
Applications Closed: October 20, 2024
Program Orientation: December 16, 2024
Program Starts: January 8, 2024
Applications are now closed.
SPRING 2025 DESIGN CATALYST COHORT
Linsey Wallace & Quinn Corey
Chroma Council
Chroma Council is a production company which provides creative consulting and design-build services. We create public art, produce events and provide technical support for various creative installations. Chroma Council is owned and operated by principle designers Quinn Corey and Linsey Wallace.
Kara Stokowski
DJ Dayglow
Kara Stokowski is DJ Dayglow, a mobile event DJ in Providence Rhode Island. She plays eclectic pop and disco at festivals and art events, sharing her love of dance music and vinyl records and connecting communities through shared experiences. Collaborating with a wide variety of clients from large non profits and arts organizations as well as more intimate celebrations, she makes sure that each event hits all the right notes.
Maura Cronin
Marvalina
Marvalina is a textile design studio that creates unique, hand-dyed clothing and fabrics inspired by the beauty of abandoned spaces. The studio captures the organic essence of decay, using textures reminiscent of peeling paint and crumbling walls to guide its design process. At Marvalina, these environments are seen as dynamic canvases where time and nature converge to produce stunning visual narratives. Each piece invites wearers to appreciate the artistry in both decay and renewal. Incorporating a sustainable approach that focuses on demand-flow manufacturing, we eliminate excess inventory, minimize material waste, and create a more personalized product that will be valued and used for years to come.
Sam Aguirre
JS Design Build
Samuel’s work centers on crafting evocative, sculptural furniture. Each piece considers the stories we tell through the objects we live with and the role those narratives play in our collective future. Samuel intentionally works with commercially available, bio-based materials, the process considers where materials come from, how they are sourced, where they go at end of life and how the entire lifecycle will impact the stakeholders (environment, economy, and community). Samuel’s approach is experimental and leverages a circular mindset to objectively show our environmental hurdles are not a matter of resources but design ingenuity and industriousness.
Michelle Martins
Michelle Martins Art
Michelle creates illustrations for the young and young at heart through a combination of traditional illustration techniques and modern digital methods. For nearly 20 years, she has been an illustrator for the mobile and educational game industries, specializing in casual games and games for the 6 -12 age range. Fueled by a passion for children’s media of all types, Michelle aims to inspire learning, growth and creativity, and to create stories that empower children to embrace their differences.
Eligibility
Program Schedule
Business Milestones and Funding
In order to receive funding, participants must submit three strategic business growth milestones and a proposed grant budget facilitating the achievement of each. These milestones will be crafted during the program, and submitted in February 2025. Milestones should be chronological and achievable by June 2025.
Business growth milestones are significant achievements or stages that a company reaches as it expands and develops. These milestones indicate the progress and success of the business. Examples can include: revenue goals, customer acquisition, physical space and program expansion, new hired employees. Milestones vary depending on the industry, business model, and goals of the company.
After submission in February, milestones and budgets will be reviewed for approval by our Catalyst Steering Committee. Please note that while participants must submit a budget for each milestone, they may not receive the full amount of funding requested. Actual funding allocation will be determined by the Catalyst Steering Committee, taking into consideration the feasibility and impact of each milestone. Funding will be dispersed as reimbursements in tranches with the completion of each milestone.
Reimbursement Grants
- Accepted businesses will need to submit expenses for review in order to receive reimbursement.
- Expenses must meet the guidelines provided by our funders.
- Expenses must relate and contribute to reaching stated application milestones.
- Businesses may have to hold up to $5,000 worth of debt for up to 10 weeks while waiting for reimbursements to be processed. (Note that this $ amount is greatly dependent upon the amount of grant award the business receives.) * Make note in the last question of the application if you are interested in or would need help identifying other resources while you have to wait for the funds.
MEET THE INSTRUCTORS
Attorney Blake Johnson is a Rhode Island native, born and raised in Providence. She was a part of the 3+3 program at Roger Williams University with an undergraduate degree in Legal Studies and Philosophy, graduating cum laude in 2019. She then graduated from Roger Williams School of Law in 2021. While in law school, Blake focused on business and transactional classes and was a part of the Business Start-up Clinic. She was also a student ambassador and Vice President of the Alliance. She is a member of the Rhode Island Women Bar Association, Cannabis Justice Coalition and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She is licensed to practice in New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. In her practice, Blake focuses on cannabis, as well as arts and entertainment, but has worked for clients in almost every industry.
Blake is also the founder and co-owner of Black Dragonfly Events LLC, a full service event planning and design company that specializes in fundraisers and social events. She, with her co-owner Andersson, plan, design, and decorate any event from baby showers, to weddings, to retirement parties and anything in between, as well as setting up photoshoot backdrops and the like. Providence is considered the Creative Capital of New England and, through her business and legal practice, Blake wants to help this little big state live up to that name.
She enjoys reading, baking, amatuer pohtgraphy, and spending time with her dog and turtle.
As the Senior Program Manager at Social Innovation and Change Initiative at Harvard University, Devin Samuels leads the New World Social Innovation Fellowship as the program’s resident educator, program designer, and implementer with the aim of fostering an exemplary learning experience that drives impact. Prior to this role, Samuels was Programs and Events Manager for DESIGNxRI where he led the small-business accelerator program, Providence Design Catalyst, and created Equity x Design RI, a multi-business program which led to the creation of new equity-based protocols within the field. Devin continues to bring this level of intentional program creation, management, and facilitation into his work at SICI.
Concurrent to this, Samuels has been an arts educator teaching and performing poetry nationally for the past 15 years. With a strong investment in community, Devin Samuels has spent years cultivating youth and adult arts education spaces. His pedagogy utilizes poetics and the radical imagination to grow critical thinking, self-reflection, and empathy as primary drivers of social change. Devin is a 2017 Poetry Foundation Incubator Fellow and his work can be found in City & Sea Poetry Anthology, Slag Review, Wayne Literary Review 2018 and Systemic Crises of Global Climate Change: Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender.
Devin Samuels currently serves on the board of Detroit Jews for Justice, is the Co-Director of the Providence Poetry Slam, and an active member of multiple movement and arts organizations.
SPRING 2025 PARTNERS
City of Providence
CIC Providence
Real Jobs RI
THE DESIGN CATALYST ALUMNI DIRECTORY
Check out the ever-growing directory of previous Design Catalyst participants! From metal-working to apparel design, our Catalyst Alumni come from all corners of the design world.
Are you a Catalyst Alum who would like to be listed in the Directory? Click here to let us know what your business has been up to a join the Directory!
WHAT DESIGN CATALYST ALUMNI ARE SAYING
“I am SO appreciative of this opportunity to grow, both personally and professionally. I feel like DESIGNxRI is so special because it is building a community that can support and foster creative people at all stages of their career. One year later, I am no longer just a person with an idea. I am making it happen through concrete steps. There has been A LOT of learning along the way, but that has also helped me believe in myself more and more. All of this is invaluable.”
-Rye Dean, LUMUKU 2018
“The grant program has helped me to think about my business for its possibilities, not as a static thing. I had not taken the time to reflect on the story of my brand, how it has evolved, and the service that I really offer - the program made me see so much more. With this new self-knowledge, I feel positioned to update my storytelling and make my next steps with an eye to increased profitability and work-life balance.”
-Rachel Robinson, Robinson Press 2022
“The Design Catalyst program allowed me to acquire new customers and ramp up my production abilities with the purchase of new equipment. The studio space that I found during the program has been essential for my business. I am still in touch with my peers from the program which helps having people to ask questions to who have been through the same experiences.”
- Maria Prus, M Designs Studio 2019
“I was able to decide which legal entity to use for my work, hire a legal advisor, and hire a designer to build out the branding. I was also able to purchase technology equipment that I very much needed to carry out the work of my Design Studio.”
-Shey Rivera, Studio Loba (formerly known as Design Studio for Culture + Planning) 2021
“I have gained so much confidence in my business and have continued to grow. I have taken on new collaborations and many new wholesale orders. I think I am in a much better place than I would have expected after the program.”
-Alaina Mahoney, A.M. Design and Fabrication LLC 2020