The Academy took great steps to diversify its membership this week, and now the NYC Office of Media and Entertainment is launching a campaign to help even more.
The New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Julie Menin announced the creation of #NominateNYC, a new initiative that will join the Academy to bring greater diversity to the film and entertainment industry.
As a release announcing the initiative points out, “According to recent reports from the USC Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg and UCLA’s Bunche Center for African American Studies, women directed only 4 percent of the top-grossing films of 2014, while people of color directed 13 percent. Women and people of color accounted for less than 10 percent of writers of the top 163 films of that year. People of color held 13% percent of lead roles in the 163 top films of 2014, and women 26 percent. Additionally, across 4,610 speaking characters in the 100 top grossing films of 2014, only 19 were lesbian, gay or bisexual, and zero were transgender.”
The #NominateNYC initiative will feature a portal on MOME’s website for New York City-based entertainment professionals of varying backgrounds to nominate themselves or others for consideration for membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. You can nominate someone from today through November 15, 2016.
“Our differences are what make our culture more vibrant, more beautiful, and more dynamic — and having greater diversity in media and entertainment creates more compelling stories for all of us to enjoy,” said Menin. “Given that New York City is home to the nation’s most diverse pool of entertainment industry professionals, our Agency is uniquely suited to assist entertainment industry organizations in achieving their goals to expand and diversify their membership.”
“Diversity is New York City’s greatest strength and we must make sure that the vibrancy of all of our communities is fully reflected in artistic and creative endeavors,” commented City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “NominateNYC will help bring much needed diversity to the City’s thriving film and entertainment industry, which has created thousands of local jobs for New Yorkers, and I thank Commissioner Menin for spearheading this important initiative.”
Terry Lawler, Executive Director of New York Women in Film & Television said, “As an organization that has spent the last 40 years working to diversify the entertainment industry, especially in New York City, New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) welcomes this important new initiative. #NominateNYC will be a vital tool for us and the industry as a whole. Our industry should reflect the diversity of our great city, and we are grateful that MOME and Commissioner Menin are as committed to attaining that goal as we are.”
Entertainment professionals can also use the portal to learn about the membership requirements of other guilds, unions, and associations. The goal of #NominateNYC is to help the Academy reach its goal of increasing the number of women and diverse Academy members by 2020. As the release pointed out, “Currently, the Academy’s process is by sponsorship only. The portal can provide a pool of candidates of interest, with the goal of reducing barriers to identifying possible candidates with diverse backgrounds.”
