Netflix Appoints Kevin Clark As Its First Director Of Preschool Animation

Netflix has appointed Kevin Clark, a professor and children’s media consultant, to the new role of director, preschool animation.

Here is more about Clark’s role:

• Over ten years, Clark has consulted on diversity and inclusion in children’s media for tv networks, streaming services, production studios, and technology and toy companies.
• He has worked with PBS, Cartoon Network, Disney Junior, Hasbro, Mattel, Facebook, Youtube Kids, Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Nickelodeon, among others.
• In addition, Clark has taught for 20 years as a professor of learning technologies at George Mason University in Virginia, where he also directs the Center for Digital Media Innovation.
• His research focused on digital equity, diversity in children’s media, and broadening participation in STEM. In 2014, he was honored by the Obama White House as a STEM Access Champion of Change.
• Clark recently worked with Netflix as a creative producer on the live-action preschool series Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices. In his new role, he reports to preschool content director Heather Tilert, whose unit generally commissions content for the 2–7 age group.
• In a recent op-ed for Kidscreen, Clark outlined ways in which media companies could start pitching stories to more diverse audiences. “There are still not enough authentic, multi-dimensional characters representing diverse perspectives in children’s media,” he wrote. “I want children who are rich and poor, of all hues, of all faiths to see themselves in the media they consume.”