Responding to widespread criticism that the voting membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences lacks diversity following the second consecutive year in which no actors of colour received any acting nominations, the Academy’s Board of Governors is announcing a series of sweeping changes intended to rectify this and make the organization more racially diverse.
The goal, explains Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs in the announcement, is to “double the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.”;
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“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up,” said Boone Isaacs. “These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition.”
Another way in which the Academy hopes to bring in new blood is by getting rid of older member by taking away members’ lifetime voting rights. “Each 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,” explains the announcement; in the future, lifetime voting rights will only be granted to those receive an Oscar nomination or manage to serve three 10-year terms. This new rule will be applied retroactively to all members.
“At the same time, the Academy will supplement the traditional process in which current members sponsor new members by launching an ambitious, global campaign to identify and recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity,” explains the release.
