Last week, the CFC responded to the challenges of social justice and systemic racism in our organization and the broader screen industry by taking a serious look at itself. We did this in order to make tangible changes to all aspects of our organization – to make it better, safer, more empowering and more inclusive of BIPOC and other marginalized creators for years to come.

Our alumni asked us to take a leadership role in how best to address systemic racism in the screen-based industry and its organizations and institutions, including the CFC.

Our resolve is to create an energetic action plan that will incite real change:

• We will expand antiracism and anti-oppression training across the entire organization, in order to assess and understand our individual and organizational complicity, so we are better prepared for real change
• We will examine all of our recruitment/hiring practices moving forward, as it relates to our staff, mentors and board members, with a real commitment to better, more diverse representation
• We will examine all our program offerings in terms of how to best address the needs of BIPOC creators
• We will examine the creation of a more robust outreach plan to our BIPOC alumni in order to aid in the growth of their careers, and we will re-examine our bursary structure to see what more we can do for our residents, recognizing the economic hardships many face
• We will examine our Netflix accelerators, which are dedicated to supporting diverse voices, and do more to increase their accessibility
• We will examine all of our plans with regards to accelerating digital media and tech companies to ensure we support BIPOC companies and entrepreneurs
• We will look at creating new programs that address the needs of BIPOC creators, companies and future residents with a reinvention of CFC Features, among other new ventures
• We will actively engage with BIPOC alumni and partners to address their concerns and build actionable solutions for real change
• Recognizing that addressing systemic racism needs to involve an industry-wide change, we will also reach out to the guilds, unions, media companies, production companies and other arts and culture organizations, to build collective programs that will result in tangible economic outcomes for our BIPOC alumni and creators

We will have a fully developed plan to share by the fall and a critical path that will lead to outcomes by June 2021.

Lastly, we will communicate with you on a monthly basis going forward to let you know what progress we have made in the reinvention of the CFC.

For the CFC to remain vital and relevant, we must bring about real change. And we will.

Slawko Klymkiw
Chief Executive Officer, CFC

Christina Jennings
Chair, CFC Board of Directors

Sheena Macdonald
Chief Operating Officer, CFC

Kathryn Emslie
Chief Programs Officer, CFC

Ana Serrano
Chief Digital Officer, CFC

Share this post: