Inclusivity at CMC 2021 Online
By Olivia Dickinson, CMF Diversity and Inclusion Lead
This year the theme of the Children’s Media Conference is ‘Together’. As the exec for the Inclusivity Now video strand, and the member of the executive group responsible for Diversity and Inclusion at the Children’s Media Foundation, I wanted to reflect on how my work for CMF and CMC over the past year has, I hope, enabled people who care about inclusion in children’s media to feel more ‘togetherness’ than might be expected during the locked-down pandemic months.
The nine videos that formed the Inclusivity Now strand at last year’s CMC have inspired creators to start making content more diverse, and seeking inclusive solutions and contributors. Some of the participants in those videos, and some of those who consulted and advised, are now part of a new Inclusivity Working Group formed by the CMC. That group, in turn, has ensured the range and diversity of the themes and contributors in the five videos we are offering for CMC 2021’s Inclusivity Now. They have also worked tirelessly to find young people and organisations that outreach to disadvantaged young people to offer them the opportunity to attend the conference in July free of cost. CMC has provided tickets for young people who might never consider children’s media as an industry worth working in, and who come from a range of backgrounds that lead in many cases to them feeling excluded from careers in the media – including the shortlisted entrants for the new animation internship scheme – The Secret Story Draw.
So what’s in Inclusivity Now at CMC 2021 Online?
Rosie Jones’s video was previewed for a short time in the CMC YouTube Channel, as a taster of what the conference has to offer. Now it’s back inside the Conference paywall – at least until September 30th when all the CMC content will be made freely available once again on their YouTube Channel. I highly recommend watching it if you sign up for CMC particularly if you’re about to create new characters or new shows. And remember if you’re a supporter of the Children’s Media Foundation you can get a discounted ticket for CMC – just email us for the discount code.
Producer Lydia Mossahebi and host Zoe Daniel have curated a panel of industry figures from Mattel, Viacom and the BBC talking about how to build diversity into the early stages of development of a project – making it part of your company DNA.
The Manga Connection brings something new to CMC, as does the session on Inclusive Gaming: both are about young people finding their ‘tribe’ and being themselves, and it’s not just about how they are represented on screen or on the page, but how they can build their own community which in turn can affect content creation. Togetherness in action – even while apart.
In the session Subverting the Mainstream, Ann Austen tells her story of how she brought scriptwriters and others together by inserting inclusion and diversity into storylines and character types in the most commercial of projects. This was in the early days of the industry thinking about this as something that mattered, and thus she’s always been enabling children to feel they belonged and could identify with ‘mainstream’ content.
We hope this strand and the CMC Inclusivity Working Group will grow and continue to feed this important industry conference with innovative thinking around making the industry, and it’s content, more accessible and inclusive to all. Liaising between the Foundation and the Conference on these matters is one of the most active and valuable parts of my role on the Executive of the Children’s Media Foundation. Through it I can bring a wider perspective to the conference’s planning, and fulfil much of my remit to ensure that diversity and inclusion are front and centre of what the Foundation is about – and what the industry cares about.
Coming Soon To A Digital Device Near You… The CMF’s Public Service Media Report. Theresa Plummer Andrews