Crip Camp & Adobe Fellowship
in honor of
Ki’tay D. Davidson
About the Fellowship Program
The Crip Camp Impact Campaign is honored to partner with Adobe to host a fellowship program for creatives and community organizers with disabilities interested in elevating their work to the next level of visibility.
Through a competitive application process, fellows receive a $5,000 grant to complete a passion project over a 7-month period. Fellows also participate in training classes with Adobe and Crip Camp lecturers and have direct access to a pool of mentors — well-established in their respective industries. All fellows receive a one year complimentary subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud.
Fellows’ names are not publicized to support artistic freedom and a strong sense of community.
Crip Camp’s current impact can largely be attributed to the People’s Theater, which provided video cameras to disabled campers at Camp Jened, and Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham, two friends with and without disabilities, who have a long history of working together in the documentary community as sound mixers and directors. The creative and documentary community rallied around Crip Camp to amplify the stories that helped spur on the Disability Rights Movement. We will continue this tradition by supporting more creatives and community organizers with disabilities in having the tools and relationships they need to make powerful impacts within their spheres of interest and influence.
Why Named After
Ki’tay D. Davidson?
“I challenge the extent to which we place the responsibility for advocacy on those designated as leaders or ‘champions.’ Advocacy is not just for charismatic individuals or high profile community organizers. Advocacy is for all of us; advocacy is a way of life. It is a natural response to the injustices and inequality in the world. While you and I may not have sole responsibility for these inequities that does not alter its reality.” – Ki’tay D. Davidson
Ki’tay D. Davidson’s memory lives on in many communities. Originally from Chicago and based in L.A., Ki’tay was a Black disabled trans man and, in his words, a “believer in love + collective liberation”. He passed away in 2014 at 22-years-old. As co-creator of the #DisabilitySolidarity praxis, Ki’tay challenged all forms of oppression by mobilizing multiply-marginalized communities including Black/Indigenous, disabled, queer, trans/gendernonconforming, and other communities. President Obama’s White House acknowledged him as a Champion of Change, and Talila Lewis described him as “…the voice of love and justice in institutions and organizations rife with oppression and violence…”
In honor of his incredible life, legacy, and the work he did with and across disability communities, the Crip Camp Impact Campaign team presents: The Crip Camp Adobe Fellowship in Honor of Ki’tay D. Davidson.
To read more about Ki’tay and the work he contributed, please visit:
