A £3m programme of initiatives to tackle diversity in the broadcast media was launched today by sector skills council Skillset and the UK Film Council.
The funding will enable the launch of more than 20 projects across the UK to benefit almost 600 individuals.
The projects are part of the Audio Visual Entrepreneurship (AVE) programme which has been launched to support individuals from groups currently under represented within the media including women, people with disabilities, black and ethnic minorities, older people and young people from economically disadvantaged areas.
The projects include mentoring schemes, showcasing and networking events, work placement schemes and graduate fellowships.
Trevor Phillips, Skillset patron and chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, hosted the AVE launch event in London today.
He said: “The media industries play a key role in telling our national story and contributing to a genuinely inclusive society, which is why representation within the workforce is so important.
“It is hoped that the AVE Programme will have a profound effect on the careers of the individual beneficiaries as well as helping our industries as a whole to successfully address the diversity issues they are facing.”
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Dinah Caine, Skillset’s chief executive, said: “By having a workforce that is representative of its diverse audience, it will make us, as the audio visual industries, more in tune and responsive to our audience’s needs.”
