Lender Center Hosts LA Conversation on Racial Equity in the Entertainment Industry
Five Syracuse University alumni—all prominent entertainment industry professionals—participated in a panel discussion last week regarding racial wealth disparities in American society and the inequities they have witnessed and experienced in that industry.
The event, “Lender Conversation in Los Angeles: Seeking Racial Equity in the Entertainment Industry,” was hosted by the and was held at the NeueHouse Hollywood. It was attended by about 100 Southern California-area alumni, entertainment industry leaders and other invited guests.
Moderating the panel was journalist and TV host ’99, an alumna of the (VPA) and its Communication and Rhetorical Studies program. Nottingham has worked as a reporter covering national and international breaking news, entertainment and politics. She was joined by four alumni panelists:
- ’88, president of domestic marketing at Universal Pictures and previous president of domestic theatrical marketing for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Caines is an alumnus of the Newhouse School of Public Communications and an instructor in the school’s Newhouse LA program
- ’85, an Emmy-nominated writer for film and television and a VPA alumnus
- ’07, an actress, writer and producer who graduated from VPA. She is known for her recent comedic role on the hit NBC sitcom “A.P. Bio”
- ’20, an associate attorney in the entertainment transactions group at Mitchell Silberberg & Krupp, LLP. She earned her undergraduate degree from VPA’s Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries.
, Lender Center director, says the conversation “provided valuable insights into how racial inequity continues to exist within the entertainment industry, as well as offering promising paths towards reducing these barriers. We hope to use what we’ve learned here to help craft new paths towards closing the racial wealth gap in other industries.”
The Los Angeles event was the fourth in a series of conversations hosted by the Lender Center to bring experts and thought leaders together to improve understanding of and present ideas to help mitigate the racial wealth gap’s community impacts. Those events and other research initiatives are made possible by a $2.7 million grant from MetLife Foundation. The funding has also supported three research symposia, three postdoctoral scholars and 15 faculty grants for research on the topic.
“Lender Center’s work with support from MetLife Foundation generated important new thought leadership, boosted awareness of racial wealth equity issues and created valuable new partnerships with key institutions and organizations,” says Phillips. “We have discovered many new possibilities for addressing how the wealth gap affects communities, and those ideas have provided worthwhile new understandings.”
These photos show highlights of the event.
