Broadcast Training for Women in the UK protected, as Rise Secures Funding from ScreenSkills, Adding a New Six Month Mentoring Programme to its 2021/22 UK Mentoring Schemes securing more Broadcast Training for Women in the UK.

London, UK, 23 July 2021 – Rise, the award-winning advocacy group for women in the broadcast media technology sector, is excited to announce the launch of its second UK mentoring programme in 2021, the ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme for women working across the sector, after securing funding from  ScreenSkills. This promises more broadcast training for Women in the comming years.

This programme, supported by ScreenSkills as part of the BFI Future Film Skills programme using funds from the National Lottery, will support Rises’ 2021/22 expansion and growth of its Mentoring Schemes within the broadcast technology arena. The partnership with ScreenSkills enables Rise to deliver another six month Mentoring Programme supporting women in the screen industries (film, television, VFX, animation and games), which will run from September 2021 until February 2022.

The new ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme  will support another 25 women based in the UK, providing mentees with a range of range of support*, including one-to-one mentoring contact with their pairing, monthly group meetings, facilitated peer-to-peer support and access to networking and workshops.

Applications for all schemes open today and close on Friday 06 August 2021.

Applications are welcome from women who are working full time, part time or freelance and of any age group above the age of 18. 

The ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme is a free, six-month programme to support women working in, or aspiring to work in the broadcast technology media sector. Past mentees have come from a variety of job roles including engineering, technical operations, sales, marketing and business development.

The 2021 mentoring programme sees a variety of experienced broadcast sector industry representatives, at a diversity of levels of seniority, ready to offer expertise, knowledge and guidance to our mentees.

Jane Saunders, ScreenSkills Mentoring Manager, said: “Rise provides valuable mentoring programmes to women in the broadcast media technology sector in particular those in engineering and technical roles, and a partnership with Rise is an excellent fit to ScreenSkills commitment to investing in developing skills and talent across this sector where there are shortages.”

She added, “ScreenSkills is delighted to be working with Rise to offer mentoring and support from incredible industry professionals, providing these women with important insights into aspects of the UK screen industry as they prepare for their career and make a mark on the industry.”

Carrie Wootten, Managing Director, Rise said: “We are delighted to be partnering with ScreenSkills and embarking on this new mentoring series, supporting young, talented woman as they take their next steps towards building a career in the UK screen industry.”

Wootten added:  “I would like to thank ScreenSkills for their incredible support and generosity which has enabled us to add another six month Mentoring Scheme to the 2021/22 Programme which is needed now more than ever to support young women during these times.”

To find out more about The ScreenSkills Rise Mentoring Programme, visit https://risewib.com/mentoring/ 

**Activity will abide to all current Government advice on Covid-19

About Rise

Rise was formed in 2017 to support and promote women working in the non-craft part of the broadcast industry in operations, engineering, sales, marketing and business. Since its conception, Rise has grown to become a global network hosting events at Broadcast Asia, IBC and NAB. In Spring 2019, Rise won the National Women’s Mentoring Award at the National Mentoring Awards. 

Rise’s six-month mentoring programme is designed to support women working in, or aspiring to work in, the UK’s broadcast technology sector. Its mission is to raise the profile of women within the sector, to encourage younger women to join or feel that they can progress and break the glass ceiling, to work with manufacturers to highlight the issues and help them to promote a diverse workforce, as well as to work with industry associations to gain traction and give credence, and to become a platform for smaller groups or individuals wanting to promote female diversity and to support groups promoting other diversities.

Rise has also launched Rise Up, a programme of school workshops delivered throughout the UK to inspire children throughout their primary and secondary education. Crucially, it will enable industry to remain in contact with students and encourage them to consider a broadcast engineering apprenticeship or degree when they reach this level. With universities struggling to recruit both male and female talent in broadcast engineering related courses, the industry is increasingly facing recruitment shortfalls across the whole sector.

Rise has been working with universities and key industry partners to investigate and address the lack of new talent entering the broadcast technology sector, specifically engineering and technical operational roles. www.risewib.com  @Rise_WIB

About ScreenSkills

ScreenSkills is the industry-led skills body for the screen industries – film, television (including children’s, unscripted and high-end), VFX, animation and games. 

We are supporting economic recovery, future innovation and continued growth across the whole of the UK by investing in the skilled and inclusive workforce who are critical to the global success of the  screen sector. www.screenskills.com  @UKScreenSkills