The One Club for Creativity has advanced its commitment to creative activism by urging agencies, brands, ad schools and other organizations to step up and help support workplace equity in the industry by signing its new Paid Internship Pledge.
The initiative launches with a number of founding signees already on board: Cartwright, COLLINS, The Community, Design Army, Edelman, FCB Worldwide, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, The Martin Agency, School of Visual Arts, R/GA, Sid Lee, Wieden+Kennedy, as well as The One Club itself.
Internships are a vital part of building a career in advertising and design, enabling aspiring creatives to get a foot in the door at agencies, studios and brands, and receive invaluable guidance, training and feedback from professionals.
They also provide a flavor of real-world work expectations and cultures, mark the beginning of professional networking, and give recipients a concrete credential that makes them stand out during job interviews.
Too often, however, internships are unpaid and not a realistic option for students and other young creatives from disadvantaged backgrounds who need an income to help pay for college or life expenses. The resulting experience gap is often impossible to overcome.
“Agencies, brands and other industry organizations are in a unique position to help level the career playing field for thousands of young people looking to break into the industry,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. “We call on them to sign the pledge to only offer paid internships, and support our drive to provide more equitable opportunities for economically disadvantaged and diverse candidates.”
The full One Club Paid Internship Pledge pledge is here. Upon signing the form, agencies and brands can upload their logos to be displayed on the page on The One Club website, and provide a link to paid internships they currently offer.
The initiative was strongly supported by the organization’s Board of Directors, who played an integral, hands-on role in crafting the pledge.
For its part, The One Club itself will continue to provide only paid internships at a reasonable minimum wage level–currently $15 per hour in the U.S.–and asks all of its agency partners to pledge to do the same.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More