BEA Reaffirms Commitment to Racial Justice, Diversity and Inclusivity
The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) reaffirms our dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion. Through our mission, we aim to serve as a bridge of communication on issues of social importance that help our membership develop as more thoughtful media practitioners.
Additionally, our statement on diversity underscores the responsibility of BEA and its members to provide equal access and opportunity by fostering academic excellence, diversity, and inclusion among students, educators, and media professionals.
We recognize that our statements are foundational and that action must accompany the words. We commit to fostering meaningful dialogue and change. Our stance is in solidarity with our members and friends, against historical and contemporary systemic racism and social injustice.
BEA’s immediate pledge is the creation of actionable items to promote and sustain change toward this commitment and track our progress.
These include:
- We will now provide Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with free institutional memberships; moving forward HBCU students will be eligible to enter the BEA Festival of Media Arts as well as apply for thousands of dollars in scholarships.
- We will establish and appoint a Faculty Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion, who will coordinate our diversity initiatives and build relationships with HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions.
- We will conduct an audit of our awards competitions and scholarships with the goal of identifying fault lines in our internal processes and procedures and make changes accordingly to improve the diversity of entrants and winners.
- We will continue to provide a platform for open dialogue like the recent BEA Pop-Up: Racial Injustice: A Necessary Conversation, where we can share ideas about navigating through this difficult time.
These are just a few first steps to reaffirm our commitment to racial justice. We welcome ideas from our membership and collaborative efforts with other organizations. Our goal is to honor our mission statement while exacting change in a meaningful way.
– BEA’s Board of Directors, Diversity & Inclusion Committee and Staff
