email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

INSTITUTIONS / LEGISLATION Europe / USA

A new global taskforce to assess the social and cultural impact of entertainment content

by 

- Industry giants such as the BBC, Disney, ITV and others joined forces and announced the launch of the OKRE Summit

A new global taskforce to assess the social and cultural impact of entertainment content
OKRE director Iain Dodgeon talks to Yvonne Thompson CBE (Chair of OKRE) at the launch of the OKRE Summit

Last week, a group of influential worldwide organisations announced the creation of a new taskforce to assess the social and cultural impact of entertainment content, which will kick off its activities with the brand-new OKRE summit, taking place in London on 15 June.

The organisations joining the taskforce include giants such as the BBC, Disney, ITV, Meta, Netflix, Nowness, Paramount, Prime Video, Sky, Snap Inc and Spotify. Confirmed speakers for the summit include creatives and experts such as Jocelyn Stevenson, CALM’s CEO Simon Gunning, Lucy Allan, Alejandro Villanueva Argüelles, Susie Braun and Dan Bernando. The OKRE summit is set to become an annual event bringing together leaders from the entertainment and charity sectors to advance cross-sector collaboration and champion entertainment content that makes a real difference in the world.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

According to the official press release, “panels will look at and share learnings from how content creators are authentically representing social, scientific and health-related issues across different platforms and challenging audiences to engage with difficult subject matters.” There will also be room for discussions “around how working together with charities can create a bigger impact and support ideas for creative content collaborations, with first-hand examples of breakout successes,” alongside “deep dives and case studies exploring new ways to weave societal issues through storylines, from continuing drama to true crime to comedy.”

Some of the announced members of the taskforce include Netflix’s Director of Public Policy Benjamin King; Prime Video’s Head of UK Originals Dan Grabiner; BBC’s Chief of Staff to the Managing Director Dixi Stewart; Sky’s Group Director of the Bigger Picture Fiona Ball; ITV’s Director of Social Purpose Susie Brown and The Walt Disney Company’s Enterprise Social Responsibility EMEA & UK Director Sara Hanson.

Commenting on this new commitment, OKRE’s Director Iain Dodgeon, said: “I’m delighted that leaders from across the entertainment industry have joined the Entertainment Industries Taskforce on Social Impact. The taskforce seeks to understand and build on the real-world impact that follows as a result of people engaging with entertainment content. Real change is measurable change, and this is an important step towards demonstrating the breadth of social and cultural impacts that entertainment content can have.”

Aradhna Tayal, Director of the OKRE Summit, added: “Across entertainment content, we have seen how creative and authentic representation of people, environments and world issues, locally and globally, drives audience engagement – both with the content and the issues highlighted. We have also seen how collaboration with experts such as charities, academics and community leaders results in innovative insights for richer content and stories. The OKRE Summit will provide an opportunity for these two worlds to come together and create compelling, impactful content.”

Ticket sales for OKRE’s inaugural event will be live on 13 April. For further information, please click here: okre.org/the-okre-summit.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

See also

Privacy Policy