Creative Diversity Network and Screen Skills have formed a strategic partnership to collaborate on training and development and deliver a “streamlined approach” to the freelance community.
The organisations have detailed plans to deliver joint cross-industry initiatives with producers, broadcasters and other TV and creative industry bodies, and to incorporate CDN’s Diamond diversity data into ScreenSkills’ training programmes.
The two will share an office, with ScreenSkills providing HR and finance services to CDN.
They promised that a jointly-coordinated approach to freelancers would ensure their views are included in the next iteration of Diamond, which will include religious beliefs and socio-economic background as diversity criteria.
The move comes as ScreenSkills formally appoints Lisa Opie as chair after occuping the role for a six-month interim stint following the departure of previous incumbent Richard Johnston.
ScreenSkills chief executive Laura Mansfield [pictured, right] said the partnership presented “a real opportunity make a tangible difference”.
She added: “By leveraging our collective expertise and insight, we can ensure that everyone has a fair and equitable opportunity to have a career in the screen industries, and therefore drive real change by creating a national workforce that is more representative of the UK population both behind and in front of the camera.”
CDN’s recently-appointed chief executive Miranda Wayland [pictured, left] added: “We see a lot of synergies with ScreenSkills’ role and operations, particularly in areas such as training, where both teams can draw on each other’s expertise and talents.”
