BBC director of creative diversity June Sarpong has followed creative diversity head Miranda Wayland in leaving the corporation.
The BBC is inviting applications for a director of diversity and inclusion, who will effectively cover both roles, by the end of this month.
Sarpong initially took up a two-year post in November 2019, before the three-day-a-week role was extended for an unspecified time.
With a remit to address on and off-air representation and commissioning, Sarpong set up 2020s’s Creative Diversity Festival, helped to ringfence £100m of BBC money for diverse and inclusive talent, and introduced its 20% off-screen diversity target.
She also launched The Belonging Blueprint, which measures and audits producers on their diversity achievements, and set up guidance and tools to measure diversity in productions.
Last month, Wayland left her role to become Europe-wide role of head of diversity, equity and inclusion at Amazon Studios and Prime Video.
In 2020 she was instrumental in ringfencing £100m to invest in diverse and inclusive content, while introducing a 20% off-screen diverse-talent target.
She also established guidance and tools to “set a gold standard” to ensure diversity and inclusion within production, and launched The Belonging Blueprint to measure and audit producers’ diversity achievements and help them to see where gains need to be made.
Sarpong also led the inaugural two-day Creative Diversity Festival in July 2020, which featured BAME talent including Michaela Coel and Cynthia Erivo.
