“Creativity is important because it's the difference that makes the difference.” – Canvas Worldwide CEO Paul Woolmington

Explaining why creativity demands diversity, Woolmington recently inspired a crowd of more than a thousand of the world’s leading marketing, media and creative executives during a main-stage session at Cannes Lions. Joined by Miami Ad School (MAS) Co-Founder, Pippa Seichrist; recent MAS Alum, Mya Passmore; and MAS Minority Scholarship Student, Sheba Lee, the group addressed how a commitment to diversity and inclusion within advertising will future-proof our industry.

MAS launched a Diversity Initiative in 2016, including a Mentorship and Minority Scholarship program, with the mission to educate, support and provide opportunity to minorities building a creative career in advertising. Since the launch of the program, the school has enrolled 243 minority students and awarded 80 scholarships, increasing diverse student makeup to 45 percent.

Canvas partnered with MAS – the 2019 Cannes Lions School of the Year – to send Passmore and Lee to the festival. Their perspective on the current barriers holding ad execs back from hiring more diverse talent will be key to helping effectively remove those hurdles. Canvas Worldwide is also a sponsor of the MAS Minority Scholarship Program.  

Learn more about the MAS Minority Scholarship Program here.