PBS Commits $3.6 Million to Fund for Nurturing Diverse Creators
thewrap.coman open letter that argued PBS has favored Burns at the expense of filmmakers of color.The letter, addressed PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger, was organized by Beyond Inclusion, a collective of BIPOC filmmakers, executives and other industry figures.
It argues that PBS, in its programming and previous comments on this same issue in the past, has shown a “systemic failure to fulfill a mandate for a diversity of voices.”That letter came roughly two months after Kerger addressed PBS’ diversity issue during last winter’s TCA press tour.“We create lots of opportunities for many filmmakers,” Kerger told reporters during a Television Critics Association panel on Tuesday. “Ken himself … mentors a number of filmmakers who now have quite established careers have all come up through his shop, and he has a deep commitment to mentoring diverse filmmakers.” Kerger was responding to a previous criticism about PBS’ diversity from October 2020, when filmmaker Grace Lee published an essay in the magazine Current.
Lee, who served as a producer on PBS’s “Asian Americans” series, criticized PBS for devoting dozens of hours of programming to Burns, which she argued took opportunities away from filmmakers of color..
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