NBCUniversal is backing the Vancouver-based Creative Women Workshops Association with a $75,000 sponsorship for a series of initiatives offered as part of the association’s Women in the Director’s Chair (WIDC) program.

Announced at a WIDC event Sunday in Toronto, the funds will help further develop the careers of female Canadian screen directors. This is a second funding injection from NBC Universal, which provided a similarly focused benefits package to the association in 2012.

The company already backs several WIDC programs including the WIDC Outreach Initiative, the WIDC Summit and the WIDC Story Incubation Module (SIM).

The outreach initiative, delivered in conjunction with several Canadian women’s film festivals, is a professional development series and set of awards tailored to festivals, while the summit is focused on developing and executing strategies to get more female-made projects onto screens. And with SIM, eight Canadian female directors can participate in a series of workshops to develop their fiction scripts and leadership skills.

WIDC is a professional development program for mid-career female screen directors, presented by the association with the support of the Banff Centre and ACTRA.