Raising Films Australia’s latest initiative, the ‘Making It Possible’ pilot program, will expand to regional NSW next year with courses in Byron Bay, Bega and Dubbo.
The free one-day course with follow-up mentorship is designed for women in the screen industry whose careers have been impacted due to parenting and caring responsibilities.
Women In Film & Television (WIFT) NSW will deliver the courses in partnership with Screenworks and Creative Plus Business, supported by funding from the state government via Women NSW and Create NSW.
WIFT NSW president Megan Riakos said: “The ‘Making It Possible’ pilot program is specifically designed to address the needs of women who are returning to work after a career break or who are working alongside caring responsibilities but feel stuck and unable to move forward towards their goals.
“Parenting and caring impacts both genders, but stats show us that it’s women’s careers that are more severely impacted, and we hope this course can assist to reconnect those women back to their careers. We know there are many creative women living in regional areas who face the added barrier of distance and limited access to peer networking and we hope the course will enhance local creative connections in regional areas, in addition to the participants’ own career success.”
The course provides a holistic approach to personal, career and creative advice, mentorship and education while providing access to a free creche on the day.
Expressions of interests are now open for the regional courses with 15 places per session available to NSW-based screen industry practitioners who identify as female, are aged over 18 and who have had a demonstrated “time out” from or had their career impacted due to parenting or caring responsibilities.
Regional participants can request financial support to help cover some of their travel costs to attend the course. A year’s free membership to Screenworks is included for all regional course participants.
The project is part of a suite of strategies that Raising Films Australia is delivering to address the needs of parents and carers and follows its report ‘Honey, I Hid the Kids: Experiences of parents and carers in the Australian Screen Industry.’
The courses kick off in Penrith and Sydney. The regional courses will take place in Byron Bay on March 15, Bega on April 5 and Dubbo on May 24.
Applications close at midnight on December 23. For more information go here.