Oscars’ Academy to diversify members by 2020

The announcement has come amid a backlash over the absence of actors or filmmakers of colour in this year’s Oscars nominations, prompting actor Will Smith, director Spike Lee and a handful of others to say they plan to shun the Oscars ceremony on February 28. 

The membership rule changes, among the most sweeping in the academy’s 88-year-old history, were unanimously adopted by the organisation’s Board of Governors on Thursday night, the group said in a statement. But the reforms will not affect voting for this year’s Academy Awards. 

A lack of diversity within the academy, whose ranks consist mostly of older, white men, has long been cited as a barrier to racial inclusion in Hollywood’s highest honours. 

But many critics point to the scarcity of opportunities for minorities and women on either side of the camera in a film industry that largely relegates them to marginal or stereotyped roles. 

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who became the first African-American to assume the organization’s top post in the summer of 2013, hailed Friday’s move as demonstrating the academy is ready “to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up.” 

As part of its new push to expand gender and racial diversity, the academy said it will add three new seats to its 51-member governing board reserved for women and minorities. 

The academy said it also would augment its process by which current members sponsor newcomers into the organization by launching “an ambitious global campaign to identify and recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity.”