Our DE&I team (in its fifth year) understand that there are barriers to getting into the creative industry for those who are in underrepresented groups, whether that be lack of education, lack of opportunities or lack of awareness that this is a career path for them.
Our outreach programme, headed up by Animation Lead Louise Lepic, concentrates on addressing the lack of awareness and education by working with local schools in minoritised communities around Bristol. We are able to visit these schools and introduce them to the creative world and excite them about the breadth of career options available. We also invite students in for work experience weeks where they are immersed in the team. While this outreach work, hopefully, ignites a desire with these young people to see themselves in our industry, it’s not tackling the lack of opportunities.
Last year, we shared our ‘Guide to a fair and inclusive workplace’, that hopes to address some of the hiring biases and challenges that are also preventing diverse talent from receiving and benefiting from opportunities. It considers where best to post job ads that will reach diverse audiences and how to write job ads without using gendered language. This tackles the practicalities of promoting the opportunities, but we were also looking for our opportunity to be able to provide an opportunity. Cue fanfare. This is when we heard about BCI’s new internship program.
Mr B & Friends, along with 13 other agencies in Bristol, are taking part in BCI and Babbasa’s city-wide internship program. Aimed at young people aged 18-24 from an ethnic minority and/or from a low-income background, the programme provides a mix of professional skills training, creative skills training, inspirational talks, networking events, mentoring and opportunities for future employment. Babassa supported the applicants and the recruitment process before the final cohort was chosen and matched with their agencies. The program is six months long with each applicant completing two three-month internships at two agencies.
We are thrilled to have welcomed our first intern, Sara Matloob, to the Mr B & Friends team this week. With a love of baking chocolate chip cookies, Jane Eyre and an interest in copywriting, idea generation and marketing we’re very excited to have her join the team.
