USC creates website to highlight inclusion in entertainment

The University of Southern California announced the launch of a new website that highlights inclusion in the entertainment industry.

According to a press release, the website, titled the “Inclusion List,” will showcase inclusion at the Academy Awards from 1929 to the present day. Website visitors will be able to see where progress had been made and where it has not been made. A portion of the website will also be dedicated to examining the impact of April Reign’s “#OscarsSoWhite” movement.

The Inclusion List was created by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative with the support of the Adobe Foundation. It is meant to be a data-driven approach that will give a more accurate depiction of inclusion in the entertainment industry than that shown by “publicist pitches or subjective evaluations by media outlets.”

“When April Reign unleashed #OscarsSoWhite, she tapped into the collective desire for change and the outrage that people felt at seeing actors of color excluded once again from this career-defining award,” Dr. Smith said in a press release.

“This comprehensive look at the Oscars® demonstrates that exclusion was normative for many years and still is in many categories. But it also shows that there is power in collective action, and that energy has ensured that the years since #OscarsSoWhite do not look like the years that came before,” she added.

The website officially launched on March 1. It currently includes a poll that will allow visitors to vote for who they think should win Academy Awards this year. The poll officially closes on March 12.