To mark Black History Month, we’ve compiled an essential list of resources for Black creatives looking to enter the industry.
From film collectives to gaming groups, these initiatives span the disciplines our courses specialise in and aim to support Black creatives working in/wanting to get into these sectors.
Check them out below and to join our courses, get in contact with our team.
The New Black Film Collective
The New Black Film Collective (TNBFC) aims to enhance a vibrant Black ecosystem within the UK screen industries by championing Black-led film production, distribution, filmmaking and television.
Anyone looking to join the initiative can sign up to be a member here. The group also organises a range of activities, workshops and events.
Their flagship event, TNB XPO 2024, was hosted at Rich Mix in London earlier in the year and celebrates and showcases Black talent in the screen industries. The event is expected to return in 2025.
Black Music Coalition
The Black Music Coalition (BMC) was launched by senior UK music executives in order to fight structural racism and inequality within the industry with members from companies including Sony Music, UMG, Atlantic Records, and Warner Music Group.
In June 2020 an open letter was sent out by the BMC to the music industry community setting out their stance – “for far too long, the global Black community have faced racial injustice, inequality and disenfranchisement across all aspects of society and [that] here in the UK, [it was] no different”.
Check out their Resource Pack and learn more about their membership.
Black Sound Society
The Black Sound Society (BSS) is a group of professionals working across all levels of production and post-production film and television sound. BSS strives to promote and safeguard the interests of its members, keep them abreast of production methods and explore new technologies.
The organisation’s mission includes increasing the visibility of Black professionals in sound and to be role models and mentors to new entrants, creating more opportunities via work experience and apprenticeships for trainees and addressing issues of implicit and unconscious bias.
Coding Black Females
Coding Black Females was created in 2017 to provide opportunities for Black female developers to enhance their careers.
If you want to get involved, and help the initiative build a community of Black female developers, then get in touch.
Founder Charlene Hunter set up Coding Black Females due to her own experiences as Software Developer and Technical Architect. She discovered Black women were heavily underrepresented in tech and wanted to change this, to ensure that Black women were able to discover role models and see familiar faces within the industry.
Photo credit | Coding Black Females Facebook
UKBlack Tech
UKBlackTech is a technology innovation group striving to make the UK the most ethnically diverse tech ecosystem in the world.
The initiative has created a community around it through events, workshops and partnerships within the tech sector.
The aims for the organisation are ambitious – led by Mark Martin MBE, by 2025 UKBT will be a Science Park with two locations in London and Midlands with a membership of over 500 – 1000 clients (R&D, Institutions, Organisations, Businesses and Entrepreneurs) to access knowledge, insights and research.
Black Create Connect
Launched by founder Alicia Richardson, Black Create Connect is an initiative aimed at helping Black professionals thrive in their chosen careers.
Based on her own experiences, the group started as a WhatsApp community where members could share their insights and advice alongside accessing career advice.
Now a fully fledged organisation, it works with various partners in the creative industries to facilitate opportunities of all kinds while Alicia hosts a popular podcast where she interviews various leading Black professionals and creatives about their respective journeys.
ATX Game Makers
ATX Game Makers is a non-profit community dedicated to helping increase diversity in the games industry.
The community is led by Donald Harris, who created ATX Game Makers to fill a need he saw in the Austin game development community, and the industry at large. Since 2019 the ATX Game Maker community has grown to include hundreds of working-professionals and hobbiest developers, supporting each other in both their professional careers and indie game development.
Join the community on Discord and sign up to their newsletter to stay up to date on events and new job postings.
Black Girls in Tech
Black Girls in Tech (BGIT) was founded in 2020 with the purpose of becoming a community for Black women. Initially based in Dublin, it was created to be a safe space where Black women could come together, encourage/motivate one another, and help each other on their journey.
Through mentorship, networking, and training programs, BGIT helped to bridge the gender and diversity gap in tech. It also offers bootcamps, providing intensive training in coding, data analysis, and other tech skills and is partnered with over 30 tech companies, including industry leaders and startups.
STUDY AT SAE
SAE offers two-year accelerated degree courses in growth creative media industries – Audio Production, Content Creation & Online Marketing, Game Art Animation, and Games Programming – all aimed at helping the next generation of creative professionals get ahead.
