Open To Change: the 2021 Dazed 100 is here

Dazed and Converse shine a light on 100 creatives driving change in their local communities – with a global impact

Explore the full Dazed 100 2021 line-up here

The Dazed 100 is back. After a year that made young people’s lives precarious in unforeseen ways, it’s clearer than ever that urgent change is needed across the creative industries. Which is why this year’s Dazed 100, in partnership with Converse, asks the question: “How will you shape the future?”

Curated with help from Dazed 100 alumni of years gone by, 2021’s list – part of Open To Change, a larger platform from Dazed and Converse aiming to carve out visibility for underrepresented voices – spotlights cultural creators breaking new ground across the globe, alongside their ideas on how to enact radical change and looks at what’s next for the creative industry.

From 23 year-old Atlanta rapper Lil Keed, who went from working in McDonalds to finding a fan in Drake (and Young Thug, who nominated him for the list), to Kennedi Carter, the youngest photographer to shoot the cover of British Vogue, with none other than Beyoncé as her subject, or Flock Together, the UK-based POC birdwatching group with a global reach, the list, as Dazed Editor-In-Chief, Ib Kamara says, is “truly geographically representative”. From Accra to Beirut, Tokyo, Lagos, and beyond, this year’s Dazed 100 takes a conscious effort to cast a wide lens on the cultural shifts happening all over the world.

Guided by public votes, Converse and the Dazed team will select a winner, with a $30,000 grant awarded to make the winning idea a reality. This year, we are also showcasing original work from five creatives on the list on Dazed Digital.

Explore the full 2021 Dazed 100 and cast your vote now – and stay tuned for the winners announcement.

In the meantime, follow @dazed, @converse, and @converse_london to hear from past winners, join the Dazed 100 TikTok challenge, and more...

Read Next
Feature6 imperfect love lessons from Hinge’s ‘No Ordinary Love’ anthology

Roxane Gay, R. O. Kwon, Oisín McKenna, and more share their unexpected takeaways from writing the real stories of real couples who met on Hinge

Read Now

GuideHow to take a heroic dose of mushrooms

‘It will show you what you need, not what you want’: macrodoses of psilocybin have been associated with lessened anxiety and a more positive outlook on life – but how do you do it safely?

Read Now

OpinionHow brainrot humour infected the internet with surreal gibberish

Can you tell your Skibidi from your Gyatt? What was once a niche obsession has gone mainstream and irreversibly warped the way people speak online

Read Now

Q+A‘No Ordinary Love’: R. O. Kwon on starting a love story with open questions

The author talks about mismatched desires, the role of chance in dating, and other lessons from working with a real Hinge couple for the ‘No Ordinary Love’ anthology

Read Now