By Rebecca Sun
The nonprofit BRIC Foundation, which was founded to increase employment diversity in entertainment, gaming, media and tech, has launched the Arts, Media, and Entertainment High Road Training Partnership.
The initiative will look to address challenges around hiring and retaining employees from historically excluded backgrounds in high-skill and high-wage jobs in AME fields (film/television, animation, visual effects, games, music/audio, live entertainment and design). This goal will be achieved through a network of registered apprenticeship programs and community-based organizations that will provide continuous support for participants including on-site job training, mentorship and career coaching.
“As the industry continues to face challenges of increasing DEIA, we recognized the need to work collaboratively in order to find a solution that supports tangible systemic change,” BRIC Foundation co-founder Nicole Hendrix said in a statement. “We’re proud to lead this initiative from BRIC and provide a coherent structure that will advance the way AME industries recruit and sustain diverse talent across every sector.”
AME-HRTP is made possible through a $3.5 million, three-year grant from the California Workforce Development Board’s High Road Training Partnerships Resilient Workforce Fund.
As the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes draw attention to the difficulties of making a living wage in the industry, AME-HRTP also will support the creation of guild training and mentorship programs that will lead to union jobs. “Additionally with the changes to the California Film Commission tax incentive program and the spotlight on diversity from legislators in Sacramento, we feel that this AME-HRTP program will help us build upon the existing work and meet our goals to support a more diverse industry,” IATSE Local 80 business manager DeJon Ellis Jr. said in a statement.
