Co-Founder Of The One Club’s ‘Colorful’ Grant Program
Minority-founded creative studio and artist rep agency Sunday Afternoon has hired award-winning multidisciplinary artist and designer Rich Tu as executive creative director and partner. Tu’s primary role is to work alongside Sunday afternoon Cofounders/Partners Ahmed Klink and Juan Carlos Pagan and EP/Partner Audrie Poole to grow the agency’s internal design studio. He is also expected to leverage his connections with the creative community to further develop client programs that effectively reach youth culture, and continue to make good on the firm’s mission to attract and grow new diverse talent to its roster.
This is a homecoming of sorts for Tu, who was among the first artists to be part of the Sunday Afternoon roster when the firm launched in 2015. His professional journey began at small design and branding shops before moving in-house at Nike to handle footwear graphic design. He went on to ViacomCBS (now Paramount), first as VP of brand design for MTV and eventually VP of Digital Design for the expanded MTV Entertainment Group, including VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, and Logo. Tu then made the transition to the large design agency side as group creative director at Jones Knowles Ritchie in New York, where he worked with leading brands such as Paramount Global and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Most recently, he partnered with the music arm of A24 Films on the soundtrack release of the multiple Oscar-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once.
“Rich is a dynamic leader and creative powerhouse who’s immersed in the diverse creative community, and will act as a conduit for attracting greater cultural relevance to our process, artist roster, and work for clients,” said Klink. “His valuable experience with large global brands and deep understanding of youth culture makes Sunday Afternoon a stronger studio. Rich has been part of our journey since day one, and we’re thrilled to have him return home.”
In addition to garnering a range of awards for his creative work, Tu was selected as an ADC Young Guns 8 winner, and a recipient last year of the prestigious Paul Manship Medallion from The One Club for Creativity for significant career contributions to the Art Directors Club and creative industry. He also hosts the “First Generation Burden” podcast, which uses long-form interviews with diverse creatives to examine the intersection of immigrants and the creative community. The announcement closely follows the launch of The One Club’s COLORFUL grant programs for young BIPOC creatives, a program co-founded in 2021 by Tu, and for which Sunday Afternoon is a strategic partner and creator of this year’s branding.
