Leeds Lens
Overview
Leeds Lens is a live production pathway for young Black creatives, rooted in Leeds and open to young people across West Yorkshire. It exists because the talent in this region is real and the routes into technical and production roles behind the camera are not. Leeds Lens builds one.
Delivery & Partnership
Delivered in partnership with Sticks and Glass, a Leeds post-production and live broadcast facility, and the Black Health Initiative, the programme puts 15 young Black creatives inside a working production environment rather than a classroom. Participants learn the craft and the culture of live broadcast: how a gallery runs, how a live production comes together, and how to carry yourself on a professional set. Hands-on technical sessions are backed by an industry series that connects the cohort to the people already doing the work.
Why Place-Based
Leeds Lens is place-based on purpose. It keeps talent in the region, partners with the facilities that can employ it, and turns local ambition into a genuine first step into the industry. This is a pipeline, not a taster day: participants leave with practical skills, real production experience, and a network that did not exist for them before.
Taking Up Space
Overview
Taking Up Space puts creatives from underserved communities in the rooms that shape the global industry, then makes sure they are seen in them. Access to those rooms has never been the norm, and presence in them changes what the industry believes is possible.
The Cannes Delegation
In June 2025 BPSB launched the programme by taking a delegation of seven Black creatives and emerging leaders behind the scenes at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, drawn from across the UK and spanning film and TV, live events, and sports media. It was our first delegation into that space, and it was not a networking trip. It was a deliberate act of visibility: putting talent where the decisions, the deals, and the conversations about the sector's future actually happen, and holding open the door behind us.
The Results
The results made the case. Every delegate made significant new professional contacts, three in four connected directly with senior leaders, and the cohort rated their experience an average of 4.3 out of 5 for professional growth, community, and opportunity. Delegates unanimously recommend the programme, and for many it confirmed their decision to build a career in the industry. As one put it, the sponsorship "allowed me to take up space where historically Black creatives have been excluded." The trip also established formal partnerships with BWIPP, The Farm, and the Global Media and Entertainment Talent Manifesto, and launched our Ignite Mentoring Programme.
Why It Matters
The programme reflects everything BPSB stands for. Roughly 43% of Premier League players are Black. Roughly 3% of off-screen TV roles are held by Black professionals, and just 2.6% of senior roles. Spaces like Cannes are where that gap is either quietly reinforced or openly challenged. Taking Up Space challenges it, by making sure the people missing from the picture are in the frame, in the conversation, and building the relationships that turn a moment of access into a career.
Ignite Mentoring Programme
Overview
Ignite is BPSB's structured mentoring programme for emerging professionals from Global Majority and underserved ethnic backgrounds in sports broadcasting. Talent rarely fails for lack of ability. It fails for lack of access: to the right guidance, the right rooms, and someone further along who can tell you how it actually works. Ignite closes that gap.
How It Works
Delivered in partnership with BWIPP (Black Women in Production and Post), The Farm, and the Global Media and Entertainment Talent Manifesto, the programme pairs emerging talent with experienced industry professionals in an ongoing cohort, so mentoring builds over time rather than in a single conversation. Mentees get honest, practical guidance on navigating the industry, developing their craft, and making the moves that turn a foot in the door into a career. Working with partners rooted in post-production and the wider industry means the support is real, connected, and close to where the jobs actually are.
The Bigger Picture
Ignite is where BPSB's community becomes a pipeline. It draws on the trusted network BPSB has built and the industry relationships we hold, and it channels them directly to the people who need them most. For the sector, it is a ready supply of vetted, supported, rising talent. For our members, it is proof that the door is open and someone is holding it.