Impact Partnership Programme Co-design Panel

We are investing £1m through our Impact Partnership Programme to develop support, resources, and access for Black and Global Majority industry workers. The aim of the programme is to contribute to the creation of an inclusive, equitable, anti-racist industry where everyone can thrive.

To help us determine how best allocate this investment, we have brought together a cross section of industry stakeholders. They represent the expertise, insights, and lived experience of Black and Global Majority workers as well as the organisations that hold power in our industry. We believe they will provide a potent foundation for ground-breaking creativity.

The Co-Design Panel will meet over the next three months, and we will share an update on its outcome and next steps in due course.

Our Impact Partnership Programme Co-Design Panel

Anita Herbert | Impact Partnership Programme Manager, Film and TV Charity

Anita is an award-winning community development manager, whose career has spanned different sectors from global FMCG, construction, healthcare and the third sector.

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Joseph A. Adesunloye | Producer, Writer and Director

Joseph is an award winning British-Nigerian producer, writer and director. He was selected for Locarno Film Festival’s – Locarno Pro First Look on UK Film 2023, for his new feature Vanilla starring Yann Gaël (1899, Saloum) and James Smith (The Favourite, The Thick of It).

Juliet Gilkes Romero | Writer

Juliet is Writer in Residence at the National Theatre, attached to the New Work Department for 2022/2023. She is an award-winning writer for stage and screen.

Aaquil Ahmed | Media Consultant

Aaquil is the former Head of Religion and Ethics at both Channel 4 and the BBC. At Channel 4, he was also the Head of Multicultural Programming. He has won numerous awards from EMMY to BAFTA and has an Oscar nomination.

Anjani Patel | Head of Inclusion and Diversity, PACT

Anjani works with industry stakeholders includingbroadcasters to build diversity and embed inclusion across the content production sector. She provides expertise, support and advice to help indies to build strategies for inclusion both on and off screen.

Annika Allen | Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), All3Media

Annika’s responsibilities at the global production powerhouse are for delivering the group’s DE&I strategy, working with its 40+ production companies, human resources and talent teams and contributes to sector-wide DEI work.

David ARLO | Artist, Actor and Creative

David is known professionally as ARLO. His first foray into TV will be a music industry drama series, which he will create and star in, is being developed by Lionsgate and the producers of the hit tv show Sex Education, Eleven.

Derek Bardowell | Director, Ten Years Time

Derek is an author, transformative coach, and philanthropy advisor. Once a music journalist and youth worker, Derek’s first book, No Win Race, explores race and racism in modern Britain through the prism of sport.

Dominic Buchanan | Producer, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Home Team

Dominic is a Peabody and BAFTA winning producer, whose films have premiered, and won awards at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca and the Cannes Film Festival to name but a few. Dominic co-founded and launched HOME TEAM in September 2020 with producer Bennett McGhee.

Kalaiyashni Puvanendran | Diversity & Inclusion Programme Delivery Partner, ITV

Kalaiyashni co-developed ITV’s global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion strategy, currently being implemented internationally. She also worked on establishing ITV’s £80M Diversity Commissioning Fund, driving change towards racial and disability equity in whose stories get told and who gets opportunities in TV production. Kalaiyashni was a panellist for the National Youth Film Awards and the Edinburgh TV Awards.

Leon Mayne | Screenwriter and Director, Insight Network

Leon’s work has earned him a feature in Powerful Media’s ‘Britain’s most influential people of African and African Caribbean Heritage’, BBC’s New Talent Hotlist, Screen Nation Digital Vanguard Award and a 2023 TV Collective Breakthrough Leader.

Mia Bays | Director of the BFI Film Fund

Mia has worked in films for over 30 years, on over 150 films as a producer, sales agent and distributor of both documentary and fiction. She has produced an Oscar winner and received a BAFTA nomination for Best Debut for her work on cult music film Scott Walker – 30 Century Man.

Miranda Wayland | Head of Europe Diversity, Equity and Accessibility for Prime Video and Amazon Studios

Her role will help drive Amazon’s strategic goals and ambitions, working closely with content creators, executives and the Prime Video teams to focus on ensuring greater inclusion, representation and accessibility as well as collaborating with industry partners and the wider sector for long-term industry change.

Nadine White | Race Correspondent, The Independent

Nadine is a multi-award-winning journalist who joined The Independent as Britain’s first Race Correspondent in March 2021. She reports on stories around and within Black, Asian and minoritised communities. She previously worked at HuffPost UK and The Voice – Britain’s longest running Black newspaper.

Rico Johnson-Sinclair | Director and Programmer for CineQ

After contributing to Flatpack Festival in Birmingham, Rico founded CineQ a thriving queer film festival now in its sixth year. Prioritising queer and trans, black, indigenous and people of colour’s voices, Rico’s ethos centres on audience impact.

Sam Fray | Talent Development Lead, TriForce Creative Network and Dandi

Sam has over 10 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, with a focus on coaching, diversity and inclusion, and production. She is passionate about creating a level playing field and encouraging a generation to break down barriers in the creative sector.

Tolu Stedford | Founder Co-CEO Story Compound and Compound Studios

Tolu has several projects in development including the TV series, Welcome to the Weekend, written by Racheal Flowerday (BBC’s Father Brown and Malory Towers), actress and writer Michelle Bonnard and directed by Simon Curtis. Tolu is also in post-production for BFI Doc Society commissioned short, Medallion.

Click to download full biographies

Further information

What is the Impact Partnership Programme?

The Impact Partnership Programme is a £1m investment to provide the support, resources, and opportunities that Black and Global Majority film and TV workers need in order to thrive. By addressing the deep-rooted and systemic nature of racism, the programme also aims to contribute to an inclusive, equitable, healthy, and anti-racist industry that properly recognises and values the voices and talents of Black and Global Majority workers.

The programme strives to be bold, strategic, ambitious, innovative, and impactful, and aspires to bring lasting transformation by disrupting the racial inequities that cost the industry billions in lost revenue, talent, and untold stories. It will bring together industry experts, anti-racism advocates, corporations and organisations representing Black and Global Majority industry workers and stakeholders.

Co-designing the programme

Co-design is a central principle of the Impact Partnership Programme. In order to take decisive action to combat racism in the industry it is critical that priority is given to under-represented voices, we collaborate with the right people and organisations, and that we leverage collective expertise. The panel was selected through a combination of an open call to the industry and by invitation, resulting in a diverse mix of industry stakeholders to work with us to design the programme. As part of our Co-Design panel, and with the support of an expert facilitator, they will assist us in designing the £1m industry programme. 

The co-design phase will run from August until the end of October November 2023 and panel membership will be for the duration of this period. 

Key dates

The IPP Co-Design Panel will meet on:

20^th September 2023,
18^th October 2023
9^th November 2023
22^nd November 2023

Next steps will be announced in due course.

A message from our Inclusivity Committee

The Impact Partnership Programme was conceived during a global pandemic and fuelled by the murder of George Floyd. It is driven by an urgent need to help Black and Global Majority film and television professionals tell the stories that shape our world.

As members of the Film and Television Charity’s Inclusivity Committee, we understand the need for and the importance of creating dedicated spaces where Black and Global Majority creatives can explore their voices, professional challenges, and untold stories. The insights we gained following qualitative and quantitative research into the industry show that it clearly needs to evolve and put infrastructure in place to enable Black and Global Majority professionals to have access to programmes and opportunities which unequivocally lead to sustainable and satisfying jobs.

In 2021, the Charity commissioned Sasha Salmon’s Think Piece on Anti-Racism in the UK Film and TV Industry. Within this work, Black and Global Majority creatives shared their experiences, including the example below:

“Even though I went to one of the best film schools and had an extensive track record, after so many experiences of being undervalued or gaslit I started to believe I wasn’t good enough and when I was with other colleagues at [said institution] I started to lose confidence and found it hard to speak up in meetings even though I knew I had good ideas. I started to think maybe I just wasn’t good enough to get those bigger jobs. Now I realise that I was struggling with mental health challenges, and most of this was as a result of racism and classism. There were hoops I was being made to jump through that my White colleagues were not. Now I recognise that the problem wasn’t about my ability.”
Reference: Sasha Salmon, ‘Think Piece on Anti-Racism in the UK Film & TV Industry’, p30

We therefore believe the Impact Partnership Programme is a rare and radical opportunity to try and transform this current landscape into a fair and safe environment with racially just outcomes. Most importantly, we would like to co-design this three-year programme with you. It is a project that will honour the importance of teamwork, equality, and creative courage.

Joseph, Juliet, Kirsty and Deborah
Film & TV Charity Inclusivity Committee

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