Westminster Kingsway College and the BBC have been working together to help students from BAME (Black, Asian, minority, ethnic) backgrounds succeed in the media industry with new traineeships.
The ‘Make It Digital’ programme was also in association with Jobcentre Plus and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.
The initiative included three weeks’ training on how businesses use digital skills to market and promote themselves.
Trainees from BAME backgrounds built websites, created short videos, produced social media campaigns, and learnt about professional behaviour in the workplace.
The placements offered were in a number of different digitally focused organisations including the BBC, All3Media, the Telegraph, Admiral, Find a Future, Virgin Media, Fold 7 Advertising company and the Voiceover Gallery.
Lewis McCalla was one of the beneficiaries of the programme and is now employed full time after his traineeship with All3Media.
‘‘My work placement was really enlightening; I learnt new media skills, and also got to work behind the scenes in production.’’
‘‘At the end of my placement, I was offered employment by All 3 Media – I feel so fortunate that my traineeship has paid off! The experience has taught me that if you just stay focused on yourself, you can go far.’’
Following the success of the programme, the BBC are planning on rolling out of the traineeships at a national level from August 2015, and has aspirations that 5000 young people will take this course over the coming year. For more information, click here.
