Leading Media and Film Industry players turn out to support ground-breaking diversity partnership
9 May 2008
Stewart Till CBE, Chairman of the UK Film Council and Deputy Chair of Skillset, called on the industry to embrace diverse talent last night at an event to celebrate the success of the Audio Visual Entrepreneurship Development Partnership (AVE DP), a major initiative - led by Skillset with the UK Film Council - to develop entrepreneurship and increase diversity within the audio visual industry.
Senior figures from the industry including John Woodward, CEO of the UK Film Council; Dinah Caine, CEO of Skillset; Rod McKenzie, Editor of BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat and 1Xtra News, and Kate Kinninmont, Director of Women in Film and Television were in attendance to recognise the AVE DP's achievements.
Over the last two years the AVE DP has helped hundreds of people from under-represented groups - women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, over 50s and young people from economically disadvantaged areas - to overcome barriers to employment and equality within the TV, Radio, Film and Digital industries.
Twenty-two industry partners including leading broadcasters, trade unions, Regional Screen Agencies, employers and training providers have delivered 18 projects involving over 700 people. The projects have supported individuals in developing the skills, knowledge and experiences they need to get their careers started, whether to re-enter the industry after time out or to develop successful audio visual businesses of their own.
Standout AVE DP projects received special recognition at the event. Awards for best practice in Mentoring, Diversity, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Business Creation, and Regional Representation were presented to:
- Mentoring: Women in Film and Television's Technical Change programme which used mentoring to advance women in technical grades
- Diversity: 104 Films with the Diz Life project paired both people with disabilities and young people with no experience of the industry with senior TV executives
- Innovation: Four Corner's Step UP programme provided paid work placements in top production companies for newcomers
- Entrepreneurship and Business Creation: Screen East's Scenes project supported 12 individuals or micro-businesses with start-up support, which included placements with existing successful audio visual businesses
- Regional Representation: Cyfle who ran four projects including paid work placements and teaching the use of software to young people from areas of social need in Wales
Stewart Till, who led the celebration last night, says: "We must continue this good work; to search out talent amongst minority groups and nourish it for the health and the future of the UK's audio visual industry."
Dinah Caine, CEO of Skillset, says: "Through direct engagement with organisations and individuals across the industry, AVE DP has started to change industry practice. This focus on diversifying the workforce means that many participants have gained employment or developed freelance businesses."
John Woodward, CEO of UK Film Council, says: "Although the two-year European funding has come to an end, it is heartening to see the seeds that were sown by the AVE DP with programmes, such as the Skillset Graduate Fellowship Programme and BECTU's Move On Up networking events, have grown to exist in their own right."
For more information and photos please contact Libby Appelbee or Ellie Backhouse at Colman Getty on 020 7631 2666 or libby@colmangetty.co.uk / ellie@colmangetty.co.uk
Notes to Editors
1. AVE DP was led by Skillset in partnership with the UK Film Council in 2005. It is funded by Equal - the European Social Fund (ESF) Community initiative that tests and promotes new means of combating discrimination and inequalities in the audio visual industry's workforce.
2. The initiative is backed by a further 22 organisations, including major broadcasters, trade unions, Regional Screen Agencies, employers and training providers:
- BBC
- Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU)
- Broadcast and Creative Industries Diversity Network (BCIDN)
- B3 Media
- Channel 4
- Cyfle
- Film and Television Freelance Training (FT2)
- Film London
- five
- Four Corners Film
- Northwest Vision and Media
- National Film & Television School (NFTS)
- Producers' Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT)
- Reid Kerr College
- Safe Media
- Scottish Screen
- Screen East
- Screen Yorkshire
- South West Screen
- University of Bradford
- Women in Film & Television
- 104 Films
3. AVE DP has supported under-represented groups to overcome barriers to employment within the audio visual industry.
Projects were delivered using a combination of mentoring programmes, business skills workshops and supported work placements. For example, Channel 4's Researcher Training Scheme for Disabled People combined regular skills workshops with supported six-month long work placements at independent television production companies.
So far over half of the people on the Skillset graduate programme have found permanent work, and started to establish careers in the film industry.
Further projects include short films made by participants working with Safe Media and 104 Films; radio programmes made by beneficiaries working with Reid Kerr College, and toolkits and plans by individual partners to repeat and extend a number of the schemes.
4. Skillset is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Creative Media which comprises TV, film, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, facilities, photo imaging and publishing. SSCs are licensed by the UK Government and by Ministers in the devolved administrations to tackle the skills and productivity challenge by sector. They are independent, UK-wide organisations, are employer-led, and actively involve trade unions, professional bodies and other stakeholders in the industry.