About the Xchange
An initiative by Bubblegum Club and The Bubblegum Foundation — aimed at advancing Africa’s ever-growing cultural influence in global creative scenes. This, as a means of leveraging and transforming this expanding cultural and artistic influence into developing sustainable creative industries on the African continent, and fostering creative businesses that operate beyond our continental borders.
Bubblegum X is conscious of history’s continued impact on the uneven development of our cultural industries in the Global Majority and thus aims to shift and expand the position of African business from having their products and services merely platformed — to being distributed and consumed globally.
This initiative seeks to develop and support a new generation of empowered African creators, who comfortably and successfully occupy artistic and entrepreneurial spaces. A generation that will build, sustain and eventually pass on the creative businesses upon which the future of Africa’s creative industries is founded.
Each year Bubblegum Foundation will use its resources to realize initiatives that support and develop creatives across Africa. The first of these being an annual International exchange programme for creatives from the continent.
This year’s exchange is focused on the fashion industry, and will see us partnering with Daily Paper, to offer an emerging designer a fully funded month-long internship at Daily Paper’s HQ in Amsterdam.
Bubblegumclub is partnering with daily paper on an international fashion exchange programme for an aspiring fashion designer from the african continent
At the core of the programme is an opportunity for the successful candidate to travel to Amsterdam for a month long internship at Daily Paper. But will also function as a platform that provides exposure for aspiring fashion designers from the continent and for storytelling from both Bubblegumclub & Daily Paper perspectives.
The Bubblegum Club and Daily Paper jury will independently select their top 10 applications through private collective judging sessions. Thereafter, the top 10 candidates will receive a brief from the jury that they will respond to in the form of an innovative design.
The designs from the top 10 candidates as well as the bios and portfolios will be available on the microsite. The public will then vote for the top 5 candidates based on their designs.
Following the public voting for the top 5 candidates the successful top 5 will be announced on the microsite and across social media. The jury will then host interviews and a private collective judging session to decide on the final candidate.
This candidate will travel to Amsterdam to complete a 1 month internship at Daily Paper. Their travel expenses and living costs in Amsterdam will be covered by Bubblegum Club and Daily Paper. The internship recipient will also create weekly vlogs about their experience in Amsterdam.
