The Center for Creative Workforce Equity (CCWE)

Access to tech and creative industry employment

Central LA East LA South LA West LA County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The creative industry field, the 2nd largest labor sector in Los Angeles, presents both a hiring challenge as well as a significant opportunity to advance equity, economic resilience, and job quality. Although, 65% of LA County is BIPOC, only 27% hold creative industry jobs—even fewer in leadership.Unlike many other sectors, entry into the creative industry is heavily reliant on two traditional pathways: 1) the “who you know” pipeline, where access to opportunities is based on personal relationships with industry insiders, and 2) university pipelines, where established relationships with studios channel students directly into jobs. This leaves a major gap for talented, economically and systematically marginalized young people who lack either this access to influential networks or the means to attend the elite universities that typically serve as feeders into the industry. This disparity distorts representation, silences voices, and leaves far too many on the outside, looking in.

The Center for Creative Workforce Equity (CCWE) serves as the umbrella for career pathways programs targeting low-income young people ages 16-24. Priority is given to former foster, unhoused, or justice-involved youth, and/or those who are BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+. Programs develop industry-recognized knowledge, skills, and certifications required for entry into economically viable job pathways. They include:
● Creative Conversations, a virtual series featuring industry professionals discussing career pathways, including their own.
● Pre-Apprenticeship Training, is a paid (earn-and-learn) immersive program that prepares participants for creative industry careers and advanced learning. We plan to expand our successful Digital Storytelling to include Unscripted Media, as the rapid expansion of streaming platforms, live entertainment, and digital content, has led to a significant increase in unscripted series production. And, unlike scripted film and television, which are often disrupted by labor strikes, changing audience preferences, and high production costs, unscripted is continuously in production year-round.
● Creative Industry Career Program, placing program graduates in internships, apprenticeships and entry-level jobs at partner companies, and helping prepare them for other competitive opportunities.
Training participants receive wrap-around support, career counseling and attend Master Classes and special events that further their networks and learning.

CCWE programs expand opportunity with a pipeline of diverse young talent, ready and excited to embark on their creative career journey. They are grounded in workforce development best practices, with tiered learning—from exposure to training to placement—that expand participants’ ideas of what might be possible. Programs are aligned with economic data on trending sector needs and our employer-partners are actively engaged in shaping curriculum to assure that it stays current and relevant.
We believe that our new focus on unscripted production will increase opportunities for advancement, particularly from ‘below-the-line’ positions to those ‘above’, a trajectory that is far more prevalent in the unscripted sectors. It is our hope that assisting new and diverse talent with opportunities and professional connections will help to create a new generation of production professionals who bring their voice and life experience to the ever-evolving media landscape.