A local creative skills and video production training academy along with the Department of Employment and Labour and Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA) is offering 31 unemployed or young creatives a fully paid scholarship in digital content creation.
The South African entertainment industry, like many sectors, suffered a major financial knock after the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic, which prompted the multimillion-rand project, according to the director of Leaders in Motion Academy (LIMA), Thato Molamu.
Successful applicants will have an opportunity to attend a Sector Education and Training Authority (Seta) authorised one-year course in either animation and visual effects, game design and production or digital film production.
Applications for the programme will close on July 15 and are open to people up to 40 years old. The course will be held at LIMA’s Gauteng-based campus, which is equipped with editing facilities and camera equipment.
Students will also receive a monthly stipend for the duration of the programme.
Molamu said the project will help previously disadvantaged groups in society to bridge the gap between them and “well-off youth that can afford to go to film school”, which has been further widened by the pandemic.
“The pandemic is accelerating the ongoing transformation in movie production, distribution and consumption. It is allowing us to rethink our skills and reinvent and upgrade ourselves.
“Students can develop the necessary skills to become film-makers and drive their own future economic progress to enter the market, not only creatively, but also with a business acumen and understanding that drives the industry forward, both financially and culturally,” Molamu said in a statement on Friday.
RMA’s head of corporate stakeholder partnership and transformation, Adam Letshele, said that the organisation has pledged millions to the programme because of the number of black participants and potential job opportunities it offers, among other reasons.
Interested participants can view the admission requirements and details of the course here.
ANA