Students of the Major Advertising & Beyond of the Willem de Kooning Academy have participated in the Podcast Room to Talk: Black Lives Matter. This project is initiated and hosted by Jelani Isaacs, New Amsterdam Film Company, together with Fabian Sapthu, Sanne van Ettinger and Demy Sapthu. The reason these two podcast editions came to life is the incomprehensible silence from the Advertising industry and major brands about the BLM movement. What is the opinion of WdKA Advertising & Beyond students? How do they see their role and what is the role of the academy in this discourse? What do they expect from the future?
Jelani Isaacs, Room to Talk: "A school with a long-lasting history of supplying the new talent to our advertising industry is in crisis. An identity crisis it seems. In our first on tour edition, we met with students of the Willem de Kooning Academy in the wonderful Kino cinema to talk about everything that has been happening since the murder of George Floyd up till now.
Some of the students of the prestigious Advertising & Beyond department of the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam are reconsidering an internship at advertising agencies. They do not see the connection and are in doubt if it is even at all important. They have other plans, especially after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, and they do not involve us as an Industry. The second episode was also taped at the KINO in Rotterdam and involved an open mic for the audience which led to a rightful break-in by students who felt the convo was not being brought to the level it should. That's on me, I forgot the basic of this struggle, keep talking about it, keep educating, never relax into the norm, always be switched on. Give the mic to those who have not been heard enough, allow safe space for those fighting in the struggle every single day."
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Header image: photography Fabian Sapthu
