Oscars have decided to invite 398 artists and executives to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. The invites have been sent out to a diverse set of talented and multi-faceted people of the industry including, Taylor Swift, Keke Palmer, N. T Rama Rao Jr, Ke Huy Quan etc.
The 96th Oscars are set to occur on March 10, 2024 and the overall total of Academy members will be up to 10, 817 from 10,665 last year. And around 9,3675 would be eligible to vote.
The Academy class 2024 has been created in such a way that it aims for an equal and important opportunity for representation. With 40% women, 34% are from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities and 52 % hail from 51 other countries outside of the United States of America.
There are multitudes of Oscar nominees amongst the invites like Austin Butler (Elvis), Paul Mescal (Aftersun), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and some winners too including Ke Huy Quan, cinematographer James Friend etc.
From India the composer-songwriters, M.M Keeravani and Chandrabose, have been invited after their win “Naatu Naatu” from RRR. The actors Ram Charan and N.T Rama Rao Jr., production designer Sabu Cyril, cinematographer K.K Senthil Kumar of the same movie, all have been invited to the Academy.
Taylor Swift fans who were previously dejected about their artist not being selected even after the son Carolina and All Too Well: The Short Film are now happy to see the invite sent to the artist making multi-million revenue from each of her concerts.
The director of the movie Maverick, screenwriters Kazuo Ishiguro, Charlotte Wells, actors such as Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider), Kelly Dalton and Bela Bajaria from Netflix, Antonio Gimenes-Palazon from Sony Pictures, have all been invited to join the diverse community.
Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said that they are proud to welcome “these artists and professionals” who represent global talents across the cinematic disciplines.
As more women have been invited to join the four branches in particular: casting directions, makeup artists, costume designers, hairstylists; the Actors and Directors branch saw a rise in invites sent to other underrepresented ethnic and racial communities.
In 2022, the Oscars invited 397 new members like Billie Eilish, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Ariana DeBose. With the addition of this new member class the Academy is now 34 % women, 18% from underrepresented communities and 20% belonging outside of the United States.
With this news, the Academy also announced that Actor Angela Bassett will receive an honorary Oscar at the 2024 Governors Award along with Mel Brooks and Carol Littleton. Angela Bassett’s 40 years of acting had set new standards in acting, said Janet Yang. She continued to say how Mel Brooks’ humour and legacy has had great impact on entertainment and how Carol Littleton’s film editing is a model for those who come after her.
Every passing year, the Oscars Academy tries to eradicate stereotypes and wishes to be more inclusive in their decision making process and voting. By increasing the percentages of women, racially underrepresented artists and diverse crowds, we find the industry slowly progressing and changing.
