Rumbletown’s industry-leading diversity and inclusion scholarship with QUT returns in 2022

Rumbletown, Queensland’s leading independent agency group, has announced the return of its trailblazing diversity and inclusion scholarship, in partnership with QUT Business School (Queensland University of Technology).

The 2022 Rumbletown Pathways Scholarship strives to improve diversity within the group’s own ranks and address a severe lack of diversity across the marketing communications industry nationally.

Launched in 2021, the annual scholarship provides one QUT student from an underrepresented background or minority group with a $12,000 scholarship and unrivalled access, experience and mentorship across four unique disciplines – Advertising, Digital, Media and Communications.

Inaugural Rumbletown Pathways Scholarship recipient Takura Matenga spent 16 weeks embedded in Rumbletown’s five agencies: Rumble Creative (advertising and creative), Aruga (public relations and marcomms), Romeo (creative digital and innovation), Scout (media planning and buying) and Edison (SME brand consultants).

Says Matenga: “I’m humbled to be the first recipient of the Rumbletown Pathways Scholarship to promote diversity in the advertising, marketing and public relations industries and enable me to have hands-on experience in different creative agencies.

“Playing small parts in projects and seeing them come to fruition has been some of my favourite parts about the whole experience.

“I’ve learnt so much, not just about the industry but myself and the different pathways I want to go down.”

Aruga co-founder Donna Kramer said the scholarship was developed to help students from underrepresented communities to find a pathway into an industry not known for its diversity: “We launched the Rumbletown Pathways Scholarship in 2021 because we came to the hard realisation that the rich diversity of Australia’s multicultural community was, sadly, not reflected in our agencies or across our broader national industry.

“Rather than just talk about it, we came up with the idea of the Rumbletown Pathways Scholarship to provide just that – pathways for exceptional talent and pathways for our industry’s inclusive future.”

The scholarship is open to QUT undergraduate or postgraduate business students in advertising, marketing, media and public relations disciplines and professions.

James Burchill, co-founder of Rumble with Remy Brassac and Nancy Hartley, said the success of the scholarship’s inaugural year strengthened the group’s resolve to continue striving to make a genuine, tangible difference: “It’s great to feel a sense that we’ve played a part in the beginning of the career that’s going to happen for Takura.

“And that encourages us to be absolutely involved and seek to do the same for further candidates.”

QUT Business School associate director – work-integrated learning Ingrid Larkin said the scholarship built on a strong, existing partnership between the university and the Rumbletown agency group: “QUT is very much positioned as a university for the real world and we are always looking for opportunities for our students and our academic staff to partner on those real world initiatives.

“Partnering with Rumbletown on this diversity and inclusion scholarship is very much a fit with QUT’s vision and we’re delighted to again be involved in 2022.”

Along with a $12,000 scholarship, the recipient will complete a 16-week internship placement across Rumble’s five independent agencies.

The scholarship is open to QUT students who identify as BIPoC; individuals or children of migrants or refugees; individuals from a non-English speaking background; mature-aged students; first in family at university; and individuals from an economically challenged background.

Applications open Monday 16 May and close Sunday 5 June and the 16-week placement begins on Monday 25 July 2022.

For information and to apply, visit rumbletownpathways.com.au