#OscarsSoWhite controversy prompts changes to film academy

Hopefully, someone who knows Hollywood and the Academy well will do a detailed analysis of the impact of these changes on the current composition of Academy members (currently 94 percent white, 76 percent male, and an average of 63 years old):

The changes come after an unanimous vote of the academy’s board of governors Thursday night, with the goal of making “the academy’s membership, its governing bodies, and its voting members significantly more diverse.”

The changes include:

• Beginning later this year, each new member’s voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade.
• In addition, members will receive lifetime voting rights after three 10-year terms; or if they have won or been nominated for an Academy Award.
• The above will be applied retroactively to current members.
• Those who do not qualify for active status will be moved to emeritus status. Emeritus members do not pay dues but enjoy all the privileges of membership, except voting.
• Three new seats will immediately be added to the ruling board of governors, to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the board, for three-year terms.
• New members will be immediately added to the academy executive and board committees deciding on matters of membership and governance.

The new changes will not affect voting for the Oscars in February.

The academy also plans to launch a global campaign to identify and recruit new, more diverse members.

The sweeping new measures were prompted by an uproar over the fact that, for a second consecutive year, only white actors were nominated for Oscars — which many have blamed on a larger problem of systemic racism in the Hollywood studio system.

Source: #OscarsSoWhite controversy prompts changes to film academy – Arts & Entertainment – CBC News