Avid Learning Collective Awards Six Educational Organizations for Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through Media Creation
December 21 2021 - 9:30AM
Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID) and the customer-led Avid Community
Association (ACA) today debuted the Avid Learning Collective
program to gift professional media creation technologies, training
and certification to not-for-profit educational organizations that
have proven to inspire, engage and activate creators in
underrepresented communities. Avid and the ACA also introduced the
six inaugural award recipients, identified for their outstanding
missions and achievements: Boston Arts Academy, Ghetto Film School,
Girls Make Beats, Immersive & Inclusive Audio Institute, MAMA
Youth Project and The Last Mile.
Each year, the Avid Learning Collective will welcome six
additional educational organizations and initiatives that
demonstrate the intention and ability to influence the current
state of diversity, equity and inclusion through student
advancement. For a period of three years, these recipients will
enjoy membership in the global Avid Learning Partner program, which
brings licenses for Avid creative tools, teacher training and
course materials for students as well as peer and professional
networking to cultivate visibility, mentoring and job opportunities
for students.
The call for applications for the 2022 Avid Learning Collective
program awards is now open through February 15, 2022. Criteria and
application form are available here. Applications will be reviewed
by a diverse committee of accomplished music, film and television
professionals who sit on the ACA executive board as well as Avid
employees. Award recipients will be announced in late spring
2022.
Bryan Castle, Avid’s Director of Learning Partnerships, said,
“The Avid Learning Collective is the brainchild of our ongoing
collaboration and exploration with truly impassioned educators and
media professionals all over the world who want to make the media
industry more diverse and accommodating. We’re thrilled to get out
into the open today and to get more eyes on the new opportunities
we’re presenting to lift up organizations that show disadvantaged
people they can become powerful storytellers.”
Helen Killeen, Director of Production for Non-Scripted UK, ITV
Studios, and an Avid Community Association executive board vice
chair, added, “Our profession can do a lot more to think outside
the box to ensure that opportunity reaches the people and
communities helped by the extraordinary, sharply focused Avid
Learning Collective participants. It’s exciting to see how rapidly
this program will marshal the care and influence of my colleagues
to expose the talents of creative people whose ambitions and
experiences go largely unseen.”
Learn more about the Avid Learning Collective’s 2021 inaugural
award recipients:
- Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s only public high school for the
visual and performing arts, offers pathways to success to urban
students who otherwise might not have access to both formal arts
training and a college preparatory education. Students reflect the
diversity of the city of Boston and graduates matriculate to
college at rates that are higher than the Boston Public Schools
average and higher than the Massachusetts state average.
- Ghetto Film School trains young people from New York, Los
Angeles and London in the essentials of visual storytelling,
offering introductory education to high school students and
early-career support for alumni and young professionals. Since its
founding in 2000, the school has educated 11,000 artists and placed
800 in jobs and internships; 98 percent of participants graduate
high school on time and 92 percent go on to college, with 76
percent pursuing creative professions.
- Girls Make Beats, founded by certified audio engineer Tiffany
“Delilah” Miranda, empowers girls by expanding the presence of
female music producers, DJs and audio engineers. The organization
focuses on girls ages 5-17 and hosts educational seminars, summer
camps, industry panels and networking events, and provides
scholarships to students in underserved communities.
- Immersive & Inclusive Audio, CIC, created by audio engineer
and educator Leslie Gaston-Bird in collaboration with the
University of Surrey, will offer training opportunities in audio
and immersive sound for women and underrepresented groups. The
institute will offer an immersive sound lab, remote classes and
certification in Dolby Atmos to increase accessibility.
- MAMA Youth Project is a registered charity specializing in
Broadcast and Digital Media Training, set up to provide
opportunities to young people from society’s underrepresented
groups including minority ethnic and white working-class
backgrounds. The charity is committed to working within the media
to help the industry become more diverse and therefore more
representative of the audiences it serves. MAMA Youth provides
practical training where candidates produce professional content as
well as ongoing support to its alumni to secure long-term,
fulfilling employment. Career placement rates consistently track
above 95% for young people in paid work a year after completing the
training.
- The Last Mile (TLM) provides opportunities for personal and
professional growth through education and technology training for
justice-involved individuals. TLM’s web development curriculum is
active in 16 prisons across the U.S. and, using its nomination, TLM
is launching an audio and video production program with industry
partnerships and a best-in-class curriculum. The goal of the
program is to provide the skills and content knowledge necessary
for participants to become audio technicians and video editors,
leading to employment opportunities after release. The employment
rate for TLM’s returned citizens is 90 percent six months after
their release, a key factor of successful reentry.
About the Avid Community AssociationThe Avid
Community Association (ACA) is a diverse group of industry
professionals who collaborate to drive the development and ongoing
improvement of Avid creative tools and solutions for the media and
entertainment industry. The ACA gives a voice to nearly 40,000
members from every discipline and job level in content creation,
production, management and delivery—from global media
organization leaders to individuals just getting started in their
careers. This collective voice is a key factor in the development
and innovation of Avid’s tools and solutions. The ACA Executive
Board is committed to modeling diversity, equity and inclusion by
providing an environment that is accessible to all, including
underrepresented communities and individuals.
About AvidAvid delivers the most open and
efficient media platform, connecting content creation with
collaboration, asset protection, distribution, and consumption.
Avid’s preeminent customer community uses Avid’s comprehensive
tools and workflow solutions to create, distribute and monetize the
most watched, loved and listened to media in the world—from
prestigious and award-winning feature films to popular television
shows, news programs and televised sporting events, and celebrated
music recordings and live concerts. With the most flexible
deployment and pricing options, Avid’s industry-leading solutions
include Media Composer®, Pro Tools®, Avid NEXIS®, MediaCentral®,
iNEWS®, AirSpeed®, Sibelius®, Avid VENUE™, FastServe®, and
Maestro™. For more information about Avid solutions and services,
visit www.avid.com, connect with Avid on Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, or subscribe to Avid Blogs.
© 2021 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Avid, the Avid
logo, Avid NEXIS, FastServe, AirSpeed, iNEWS, Maestro,
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are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or
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other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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