AE Live (AE), a world leading provider of graphics and data solutions, has played an important part in the recent successful Rise Up Academy Summer School as part of its overall efforts to help improve diversity in the broadcast sports industry.
The event took place between August 2 and 5 at the Global Academy in Hayes, Middlesex, and saw over 500 students take advantage of hands-on media training across a wide range of TV industry skill sets.
AE Live’s workshop on broadcast graphics in live production took students through the increasingly critical role of graphics in modern sports broadcasting before affording them the opportunity to get their hands on the actual machines used to produce data-rich graphics content from a recent high-profile women’s football match.
Younger members of the AE Live operational team were also in attendance to talk about the roles available in the sector, their own career paths and what they enjoyed about working in broadcast graphics.
“It was a great opportunity to show what the operational roles in our business really entail and to hopefully demonstrate how accessible they are to a diverse group of young students” said Nick Baily, CEO, AE Live.
“Improving our gender and racial equality and promoting social mobility across the business are central planks of our ESG strategy. Rise is doing great work in these areas so we are keen to offer support where we can.”
Following the success of the Rise Up Academy Summer School, AE Live is looking at expanding its support of the organisation further and is a Gold sponsor of the current mentoring scheme.
It is also working with other partners to create opportunities for work experience and placements for students from socially disadvantaged groups. It hopes this will eventually provide a pathway for full time roles within the business.
“It was great to see so many of our peers involved with the Rise Up Academy as it demonstrates how seriously the broadcast and media industry views improving diversity and inclusion,” says Baily.
“Initiatives such as this are crucial as they raise awareness, break down barriers to entry and spotlight opportunities in the sector to a much broader pool of future talent.”
Carrie Wootten, Managing Director, Rise adds: “It was fantastic to have AE Live involved in our inaugural Rise Up Academy Summer School, at Global Academy, early in April.
“We wanted to expand the technical roles and workshops we delivered at the Summer School, and providing young people with the opportunity to experience working on live graphics was amazing.
“The students had a chance to really understand the breadth of roles and opportunities available to them and many of them fed back that graphics were a pathway that they were now considering.
“A huge thank you to AE Live for investing their time and energy into making the workshops happen and I really look forward to expanding our work with them over the coming months.”