D&AD Shift with Google is a free, industry-led night school program for emerging creatives who don’t have a college degree. Applications for New York are now open until 13 September 2021. Shifters will leave the program ready to apply their thinking and their craft to the design and advertising industry.

This year’s Shift program comes at a crucial moment as the next generation continues to face significant barriers to education and employment in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic alongside rising racial and gender pay gaps. In 2019, since completing the Shift program, 60% of alumni in New York and London have entered into paid creative employment.

Successful applicants will gain a place in the four-month night school running from October 2021 to March 2022 which will provide an opportunity to work on a diverse range of projects that reflect the latest trends and topics of the industry, brought together in a final showcase of creative work in March 2022.

For this year’s New York program, D&AD has once again partnered with adidas to set one of the main creative briefs that will enable this year’s New York cohort to develop their portfolios and creative style, giving Shifters direct access to the brand and its mentorship.

Deadline for applications: September 13, 2021.