Karl Washington - a Sophomore at the Kansas City Art Institute - says when he saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, it was a revelation. Not only did it feature the first Afro-Latino Spider-Man in Miles Morales, but it also exposed him to a possibility previously unconsidered: a career in animation.

"The movie really inspired me: the street graffiti type of style, big color, big bold everything," Washington said, remembering when 'Spider-Verse' came out in 2018.

"I didn't know too many people in Raytown [Missouri] who were too open about animation. In fact, a lot of people would say I wouldn't make it if I tried to do it," he said.

Washington is now one of two winners selected for Signal Theory's 2024 Resonance Scholarship, a partnership with The BrandLab to bring diverse talent and fresh perspectives to Kansas City's advertising, marketing and creative community. Along with a $2,500 scholarship he is also guaranteed a paid internship at Signal Theory.

"Our business is built on great talent. For too many years our industry has been inaccessible for underserved communities from certain standpoints," John January, Co-CEO at Signal Theory, said.

"Take Karl - he's really charming and smart and supremely prepared. But the industry for a long time has been pretty insulated. You needed connections. So much of it is highly competitive," January said.

On top of these challenges, people often just don't know what they don't know.

Akiyaa Depusoir-Cochrane, Program Manager at The BrandLab, said families of color may not know anyone in a creative career. They might have stereotypes about obstacles to attend an art school or what would come after graduation. These barriers to entry mean some dreams never have the chance to get off the ground.

"Financially, this has to be done on a holistic front. How you get to the core - looking at how we got here systemically - you have to look at the barriers that stopped young people from getting where they'd like to be," Depusoir-Cochrane said.

"Once you expose someone to the possibility of what's next, I think it opens people up a ton," she said.

Untitled Artwork (Cropped), Karl Washington

In Karl's case, he credits his mother for encouraging him to explore his possibilities. He applied for a BrandLab high school internship and got it. When he met the college interns it was a full-circle moment. He knew he wanted a creative career and realized his path was the Kansas City Art Institute.

"A lot of time kids are not exposed to the idea that they could make a living as an artist, a photographer, an animator, or an experience-maker," January said.

"Our business depends on understanding the pulse of the culture. We can do research but none of that compares to human lived-experience," he said.

Entering his second year at KCAI, Karl said he is most excited for his studio animation class. His approach is to allow himself to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes - feeling humbled by the process.

His goal is to inspire others in the way that 'Spider-Verse' inspired him. And he knows it will take time.

"[KCAI] is helping me think differently and I'm learning that you have to know about multiple art mediums. I never thought to broaden myself as an artist and I'm realizing that you have to take smaller steps to get to bigger steps," Karl said.

It's personal growth reflected in his approach to art: finding inspiration from his background, creating a striking character, then upping the saturation.

For more program information visit The BrandLab and Signal Theory