The Television Academy has expanded its mission statement to include aspirations for diversity, inclusivity and accessibility, the organization announced Thursday alongside its annual transparency report.
“Our newly updated Television Academy mission statement … encompasses our expansive and ambitious inclusion aspirations,” the 2022 report reads, adding that the organization has added an A for “Accessibility” to their previously used DEI acronym. “This is an intentional choice to recognize, uplift and make conscious effort to accommodate the widest continuum of human ability and experience as possible in the initiatives we establish.”
The updated mission statement is as follows: “The Television Academy is dedicated to celebrating excellence, innovation and the advancement of the telecommunications arts and sciences through recognition, education and leadership, while fostering a diverse, inclusive and accessible professional community, building a lasting impact on creative generations to come.”
The report, which includes membership demographic across race, generation, gender, sexual orientation, disability status and veteran status, serves as a benchmark for the television academy to track the diversity of its membership body each year.
“This report allows us to annually evaluate representation within our organization, advance our initiatives and outreach, and measure our improvements,” Television Academy chairman and CEO Frank Scherma said. “We also have revised our Mission Statement to reflect the tenets of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility and our commitment to this journey. We continue to believe we have an important role to play in leading industry change.”
Of the approximately 20,583 members at the time of the reporting, 67.4% of which responded to the race section, 74.9% of members reported they were white or caucasian, 10.4% were Black or African American, 8.5% were Latino/Latina/Latinx or Hispanic and 3.9% were biracial or multiracial. 3.2% were East or Southeast Asian, 0.8% were Middle Eastern, 0.8% were South Asian, 0.6% were American Indian, Alaska Native, First Nation or Indigenous and 0.4% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
For the gender category, of the 79.4% members that responded to this section, 97.3% were cisgender while 2.7% of respondents were transgender. Additionally, 54.3% of respondents were men, 45.4% were women, 0.4% were nonconforming/non-binary and 0.1% were two-spirit.
Of the 23.5% respondents for the sexual orientation category, 78.9% identified as heterosexual or straight, 12.5% identified as gay, 4.3% identified as queer, 2.8% identified as bisexual, 2.1% identified as lesbian, 1% identified as pansexual and 0.9% identified as asexual.
In terms of disability status, 22.4% of members responded to the section, with 97.6% of respondents identifying as not having a disability while 2.4% of respondents responding “yes” to having disability status, with 29.3% of those who responded “yes” as having ambulatory difficulty.
Of the 5.1% of respondents that responded to the veteran status section, 87.7% were not a veteran while 3.6% identified as an active duty, wartime or campaign badge veteran, 2.8% identified as an armed forces service medal veteran and 1.3% responded as a protected veteran.
“Transparency and accountability play a vital role in ensuring diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. The Television Academy has demonstrated its commitment to leadership by sharing information about members’ experiences, their own challenges and the organizational changes they have enacted to promote diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility internally and within the industry at large,” ReadySet’s CEO and founder Y-Vonne Hutchinson said. “The Academy’s long-term vision remains unchanged. This report is evidence of its commitment, and the latest of many steps the Academy is taking on the path to reaching their ambitious goals.”
