Celebrant training bursaries for black and brown people of colour
Photo by Evergreen Malaga
“We want to see more black and brown people actively working as celebrants within our modern and diverse communities.”
Being a celebrant in our eyes is the best job in the world. It really is. To be able to help so many different and varied people in the ways that we do is extremely rewarding, satisfying and life-affirming. It’s simply awesome!
All around the UK, celebrants can be found in all corners, and the profession has grown exponentially over the last five years. There is a community of celebrants of all ages, personality types and genders, who work with couples and families from all different backgrounds, cultures, religions, and nationalities. Passionate celebrants who bring their varying skills, abilities, and experiences to the table in order to serve the communities around them.
Most individual celebrants champion racial diversity and inclusion and actively seek to be diverse and inclusive in their practices, yet the wider celebrant industry itself lacks racial diversity. As a whole the celebrant industry is made up of mostly white celebrants, with black and brown celebrants being marginally represented.
Why is this? We believe it could be down to a number of things from socio-economic factors that prevent some people of colour from being able to afford training, to people of colour feeling/finding that this profession is not open to them or inclusive of them. And then once in the profession black and brown celebrants can face prejudice and racism that their white counterparts don't face.
Whatever the reasons are, we want to change this. We need to change this. We must change this.
Why does it matter?
It matters because as celebrants we cannot practice racial diversity and inclusion in the ways that we do individually, yet continue to work in an industry that itself is not diverse and inclusive (enough). The practice of diversity needs to be all encompassing from the individual celebrant right up to the organisations who represent them.
People need to look at our profession and see themselves represented amongst the ranks, and from there starts the process of inclusion. There is a lot of work that needs to be done when it comes to diversity, equality and equity within the celebrant profession- and, whilst steps have been made, we want to start seeing leaps being taken.
Diversity matters
We need to normalise the presence of non-white celebrants within the industry.
Representation matters
We need to have representation of celebrants from a wider range of ethnic backgrounds. We need couples and families to see and be a part of this representation.
Inclusion matters
We need to support black and brown celebrants of colour who can face difficulties once they’re inside the industry.
Our BBPC bursary
Increasing racial diversity from the inside out
To start to shift the status quo, the Celebrants Collective has created a bursary for brown and black people, who would love to have the opportunity to access this amazing career path but who for various reasons never thought it could be possible for them.
Our full bursaries will enable you to train as both a Celebrants Collective Certified Wedding and Funeral Celebrant.
Could this be you? Do you think that you have what it takes to be a celebrant and also a Celebrants Collective celebrant?
Are you someone who is..?
So what exactly do celebrants do?
As celebrants we love the expansiveness of our work. Our role allows us to help our communities to celebrate and mark life’s special occasions. To guide and assist others as they celebrate important and meaningful events.
Photo by Anna Gazda Photography
A cute and noise-filled baby-naming
A loving, fun-filled wedding celebration
A heartfelt and celebratory funeral service
A thoughtful and collaborative building opening
A meaningful gender transition celebration
A warm and welcoming adoption ceremony
A helpful and healing divorce ritual
A festival-themed community celebration
Photo by Lottie Povall Photography
These are just some of the ways that as celebrants we can help individuals and groups of people to add meaning to different stages and events in their lives.
Photo by Matt Ethan Photography
Is our bursary for you?
If this sounds like the kind of career path that you would love to go down and you are a black or brown person of colour who would not be able to consider a career as a celebrant without the funding provided by a bursary, check out what our bursary includes:
- Training and certification as both a Celebrants Collective Wedding and Funeral Celebrant. (Please note that training as both doesn’t mean you have to practice as both. Each course is valued at 1100 pounds each.
- Lifelong support for the duration of your celebrant career to help you navigate your career as a celebrant.
- Membership to a supportive and friendly community of trainees and recently graduated celebrants.
What our bursary doesn’t include:
- Your annual membership and Celebrants Collective accreditation fee of 140 Pounds. Check out what it is in your currency here.
Our bursary equates to 2200 Pounds worth of celebrant training and support.
Do you meet our bursary requirements?
You are a person of colour who is based in the UK. Being a person of colour means you are of African, Caribbean or Asian heritage, or of a mixed heritage.
Without this bursary it would be financially impossible or detrimentally impactful on your financial situation if you were to pursue training to be a celebrant.
You are serious and passionate about being a celebrant and are keen to serve your community in this rewarding way. As well as create a new career path for yourself.
If you are a brown or black person and you feel that financially you have the means to pay for this course, and it would not detrimentally impact you to do so, then we’d encourage you to apply for our course through our ordinary channels here. This means allowing a place to be given to someone, who, without this bursary, would not be able to undertake celebrant training.
How does our bursary process work?
1
Self-check & research
First of all, check in with yourself to make sure that being a celebrant is 100% what you want to do and that you fit the criteria of our bursary. Have a good read of our website and this page and get to understand the role of a celebrant in more detail, and also our role and values as the training organisation that we are.
2
Apply for our bursary
When you’re ready, complete our application form. You’ll also need to submit a photo and a video presentation. This is standard for all of our celebrant trainees. We’ll assess your application and get back to you asap.
3
Wait to hear from us
We will be in touch regardless of whether we offer you the bursary or not. If you are offered a bursary, you’ll be sent a congratulations email with a link to where you can pay for your membership (140 Pounds) and enroll on the course immediately to start your celebrant training with us. Yay! This is all that you will need to pay for your training.
What is the Celebrants Collective?
The Celebrants Collective is a modern, diverse and inclusive celebrant training and development organisation, co-directed by Natasha Johnson and Claire Bradford.
The Celebrants Collective encourages celebrants to be value-led, heart-driven passionate professionals, who are not only excellent celebrants but also outstanding human-beings too. Celebrants who embrace the world that we live in by recognising the common humanity shared by all.
The Collective trains new celebrants and also through its membership platform supports existing celebrants to be better all-around celebrants and business people. Current trainees are based in the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Switzerland, and the USA.
Collectively we can all do and be better celebrants.
If our bursary will make the difference between you becoming a celebrant or not, apply now.
Let us help you to become an amazing celebrant, whilst also bringing more diversity into the celebrant community.
We reserve the right to not offer bursary places to people who we feel do not meet the bursary requirements or the requirements to be trained as a celebrant with the Celebrants Collective.
Got any questions? We've got the answers.
If you have any questions at all about our bursary and celebrant training, fill out this form and we'll get back to you.
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