The Black Academy and Insight Productions have unveiled the cohort for the second iteration of Skills Development Program for empowering Black Canadian talent in the media industry.

The program, a collaboration between The Black Academy and Insight, aims to provide real-world training, credits and contacts to support a sustainable career in the Canadian media sector. It began this past August and wraps Friday (Dec. 22).

This year, participant feedback led to the addition of five new streams – camera, directing, music, production coordination and writing – added to the existing streams of audio, post-production, producing and wardrobe.

The 2023 cohort is composed of 13 participants in total. Esinam Kosi Agamah and Makayla Campbell were selected for the producing stream; Rashayn Alexander and Chelsea Nyomi for post-production; and Xavier Brown, Jahniya Campbell and Samuel Williams for audio.

Rounding out the cohort is Marcus Armstrong in the camera stream; Anastasia De Lyon for wardrobe; Grace May Gilbert-Walters for writing); Kianah Lécuyer for production coordination; Yvano Wickham-Edwards for directing; and Anthony Wright for music.

The participants have collectively completed more than 2,600 hours of training, with all participants working on the Legacy Awards in September. Notably, several participants secured paid positions on CBC’s Canada’s Ultimate Challenge, produced by Insight Productions.

Funding partners for The Black Academy’s Skills Development Program include Telefilm Canada, NBCUniversal, the Canadian Media Fund, RBC Emerging Artists and Ontario Creates. Solotech serves as the Audio Stream partner for the program.

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