SESAC Launches Program To Support Women, Minorities In Film Composer Community

Pictured (L-R): John Josephson, Christophe Beck and Erin Collins

Nashville-based music rights organization SESAC has launched SESAC Scores: The Beck Diversity Project, a five-year mentorship and grant program designed to make an impact on the historically low number of women and people of color hired in the film composer community.

As part of a $1 million commitment, divided over the next five years, the investment will be used for educational programming and composer workshops. The Beck Diversity Project will host its first weekend workshop at SESAC’s Santa Monica office in July.

In addition, there will also be a national application process to select individuals for grants to support films already in production, which are short on funds, to enhance and deliver a better score. Projects considered for the grant program will be open to any narrative film and the fund will support composers from a wide range of musical backgrounds.

The inaugural project is a collaborative effort between long-time SESAC composer Christophe Beck and the SESAC Film & Television team, led by SESAC Chairman and CEO John Josephson and Erin Collins, Vice President of Film, Television and Developing Media.

“We’re thrilled to embrace a program that helps foster diversity in the audiovisual creative community and which empowers creators to pursue their passion,” said Josephson. “Working with Chris to help execute his vision to provide the needed resources to underrepresented composers is exciting for all of us at SESAC and an important way that we can demonstrate our commitment to the music community.”

“Creating opportunities for new composers to contribute in a meaningful way to our industry is a passion of mine, and I’m looking forward to working alongside SESAC to make this happen,” says Beck.

Applications for the initial July workshop will be accepted at sesacscores.com. Additional workshops will be announced throughout the year.