In June of 2021, Marmot, in partnership with L Renee Blount, announced the inaugural Elevation Grant campaign to empower and encourage BIPOC photographers and filmmakers to chase their professional dreams as outdoor storytellers. The Elevation Grant was designed to break down the barriers to outdoor adventure for creatives of color and offer opportunities to learn and grow their skills through creative industry mentorship.
Elevation Grant
Project Reveal
Janelle Paciencia
"How many times have we allowed ourselves the opportunity to be a beginner? I’ll be the first to admit that being the beginner of a new sport can be treacherous at times due to the lack of resources, knowledge, and mentorship. I’ve had to search beyond my local community to find friends across the nation who ice climb and in doing so I’ve found a growing community of Latinx women who are rising in this sport. It was this group of women ice climbers whose history is being made right now that I decided I must capture.”
“The Elevation Grant has given me the opportunity to create the beginning of a multi-year photo project where these women are championed and given the space to share their joy. It’s not everyday you see a photo of Brown women swinging ice tools up cascades of ice.
I am learning and growing in this sport and the friends I’ve made and photographed have made all the difference because the spirit of our relationship to the land and sport bonds us. Distance, COVID, and travel restrictions have made this inaugural year of my photo project a rollercoaster ride. Nonetheless, I am honored to share these photos that ten-year-old me would have loved to see growing up. And I hope you grant yourself permission to never let lack of representation stop you from being a beginner again.”
“What inspired my ancestor’s ancestors to migrate? Was it curiosity?
Was it an ancient volcano eruption? How can it be true that as Indigenous People we can remain anchored in our land-based identities while living into the demands of the Earth by being migratory? And, perhaps most immediately, how can this wisdom support us now as we face the impacts of climate change? Where do we look for the map toward survival? These are the questions that this journey has brought to the surface. The questions I’ve been able to dive into with reverence.”
"The Elevation Grant has given me the ability to explore a curiosity I’ve held since I was little and now that curiosity is evolving and expanding into a project that will support my community in preserving an ancient migration story that can inform how we adapt and move with humility as we face inevitable migration and changes throughout the climate crisis. In being able to create materials for this project, we have received more funding to keep going and to develop this project in a way that gives dignity to the depth of this story. Look out for more content in the coming year.”
Thank You to Our Elevation Grant Mentors
Jade Begay
From the team at Marmot and on behalf of all of the Elevation Grant sponsors and applicants, we would like to thank our mentors for helping make this project a reality. We appreciate your time, effort, creative passion, and dedication to elevating BIPOC creatives in the outdoor industry.
Peak Elevation Grant Winner
Peak Elevation Grant Winner
Thank You to Our Elevation Grant Sponsors
Meet the Winners
L. Renee Blount
Photographer, Creative Strategist,
and Elevation Grant Co-Founder
Outdoor Enthusiast, Rock Climber,
and Adventure Photographer
Irene Yee
Director and Photographer
Will Saunders
Filmmaker, Partner, and Director
at Camp4 Collective
Faith E. Briggs
photo: Jade Begay
“The Elevation Grant has given me the opportunity to create the beginning of a multi-year photo project where these women are championed and given the space to share their joy. It’s not everyday you see a photo of Brown women swinging ice tools up cascades of ice.
I am learning and growing in this sport and the friends I’ve made and photographed have made all the difference because the spirit of our relationship to the land and sport bonds us. Distance, COVID, and travel restrictions have made this inaugural year of my photo project a rollercoaster ride.
