Media careers will be front and center at this year’s Innoversity Creative Summit. The diversity-in-media conference has beefed up its Career Fair in hopes of matching more talented up-and-comers with broadcast and film outlets.

‘Since a big part of our agenda is to encourage diversity and reduce the great gap between minority communities and the media, our sponsors and steering committee thought it was the perfect time to shine a spotlight on media careers,’ says Cynthia Reyes, cofounder and chair of Innoversity.

‘Nearly 20 reps from film, radio and TV orgs, and head-hunters, too, will be on hand to answer delegates’ questions about jobs and careers in the industry.’

Among the organizations taking part are Alliance Atlantis, APTN, Astral, Global, CHUM, Corus, CTV, the National Film Board, Standard Radio, Telefilm Canada, The Weather Network and VisionTV. Innoversity runs Sept. 29-30 at Toronto’s Holiday Inn.

Beyond connecting talent with industry reps, the Career Fair’s goal is to spotlight lesser-known jobs such as storyboard artist, editorial assistant and animator.

‘We are also creating job boards to identify the jobs in the industry,’ Reyes says. ‘Some industry reps will also highlight those jobs in their companies that most people don’t even seem to know exist, or which they have a hard time filling.’

Sarah Crawford, CHUM’s vice-president of public affairs, says she has ‘definitely found new talent’ by taking part in past summits. ‘Anything to do with diversity is important to our company.’ CHUM also funds a $5,000 development award in the Open Door Pitch Contest.

A total of $18,000 in program development prizes is being provided by CHUM, CBC, Alliance Atlantis and CFRB in the Open Door category. Meanwhile, the ‘Face Time’ event gives specially registered participants 15 minutes of one-on-one time with decision-makers, and the Show & Tell exhibition features short films.

This year’s Innoversity also features a wide range of speakers, including a breakfast keynote by veteran TV exec Trina McQueen, who will share her experience as a trailblazer and impart lessons learned from her many broadcasting posts.

‘Trina has been the first woman in everything she’s ever done,’ Reyes says. ‘She’s used to being a minority in the media, and has a lot of knowledge to share.’

Other speakers include Global production executive Karen King, CTV News president Robert Hurst, NFB executive producer Silva Basmajian and Vision president Bill Roberts.

Also scheduled is Paresh Solanki, the BBC’s creative director, who will detail the Beeb’s success with diversity both behind and in front of the camera. This is one of six diversity case studies at the summit. Among the others will be Hardwood, a look at the short documentary by Hubert Davis that won its first big prize at a previous Innoversity and was subsequently nominated for an Academy Award.

The Innoversity summits are spearheaded by Reyes and spouse Hamlin Grange. They also operate a Toronto consulting firm, DiversiPro. Previously, the summits took place in spring, but this year’s was delayed to avoid the hectic May calendar. ‘We had nearly 800 people last year,’ says Reyes. She is expecting between 600 and 800 this year.

Innoversity is a ‘labor of love’ for Reyes and Grange. ‘We have mortgaged our home to help support these events, which is why we occasionally wonder if we should continue,’ Reyes says. ‘But every time we get proof of how much Innoversity has helped underrepresented groups to get into media, we can’t help but keep going.’

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