Music-rights organization SESAC plans to co-fund a new foundation designed to support minority film and TV composers, officials announced at last night’s annual Film & Television Composer Awards in Santa Monica.
According to Variety, the Key Change Foundation, created by composer Christopher Beck, “will provide grants to support scores by emerging film composers from underrepresented groups,” said SESAC’s VP of film and TV, Erin Collins. It’s a long-planned follow-up to SESAC Scores: The Beck Diversity Project, a mentorship program launched last year and designed to “make a meaningful impact on the historically low number of women and people of color hired in the film composer community.”
Over the past year, SESAC Scores held six events, involving more than 350 participants (and watched by another 5,000 via live streaming) and hosted by industry figures. TV composers receiving awards included Danny Lux (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Gabriel Mann (“Modern Family”), Jon Ehrlich and Jason Derlatka (“The Resident”), Paul Buckley (“Odd Squad”), Francois Hasden (“48 Hours”), Evan Frankfort (“Lucky Dog”), Sean Motley (“The Voyager With Josh Garcia”), David Dachinger (PGA Tour Golf) and Guillermo Brown, Hagar Ben-Ari, Steven Scalfati and Tim Young (“The Late Late Show With James Corden”).
