Adobe and the Adobe Foundation are committing $6 million to launch a film and television fund to help underrepresented creators starting out in their careers.
The Adobe Film & TV Fund will support the work of existing nonprofits that serve historically excluded communities, with the inaugural cohort of grantees including Easterseals, Gold House, Latinx House, NAACP, Sundance Institute and the India youth-focused Yuvaa. The goal is to help underwrite the organizations’ fellowships, apprenticeships, mentorships and other programs that offer hands-on industry exposure as well as helping them to directly finance the projects of their constituents.
“Diversity in front of and behind the camera is key to unlocking more diverse and more inclusive storytelling across TV and film,” Adobe vice president of marketing strategy and communications Stay Martinet, who also is a member of the Adobe Foundation board, said in a statement. “Through our new Film & TV Fund, Adobe is looking to leverage its leadership position in the creative industry to unlock new opportunities for underrepresented creators.”
The first program to be supported by the Adobe fund is the NAACP Editing Fellowship, a 14-week experience that will include post-production training through masterclasses, mentorships and workplace rotations as well as access to Adobe Creative Cloud. Applications will open Jan. 18 on the NAACP site, with the four selected fellows to begin in May.
“Equity matters, and it is incumbent upon those of us who sit in positions of power and authority to help identify solutions to advance diversity and inclusion both in front of and behind the lens,” NAACP Hollywood Bureau senior vice president Kyle Bowser said in a statement. “It’s an honor to work with a like-minded partner in Adobe, who shows up at the table with ideas and resources that make a tangible impact.”
Adobe’s other efforts to help diversify the industry include partnerships with Sundance (Sundance Ignite x Adobe Fellowship, launched in 2015, and the Sundance Women to Watch x Adobe Fellowship, begun in 2020) and USC (the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Inclusion List and funding short films in the MFA acting program).