It’s time to address systemic inequalities in creative world

A ray of sunlight beamed from Los Angeles this week with the announcement that two more Kenyan women had been invited to join the prestigious Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The global creative industry has been under pressure to address systemic inequalities for decades. Last month, the acute challenges faced by Kenyan artists also ignited and went viral.

Racism has been institutionalised in the American cinema for close to a century. Millions of Hollywood movies have cast black caricatures in subservient roles or not cast them at all. Over the decades, filmmakers and artists like Oscar Micheaux, Sydney Portier, Spike Lee, Steve McQueen, Ava DuVernay and others, have courageously challenged the stereotypes and offered alternatives.