#OscarsSoWhite? Guess What Color Academy’s New Membership Card Is

Organization bets on black for new ID cards

Academy Oscar
AMPAS

Here’s one area in which the Oscars are definitely not going to be #SoWhite.

New membership cards for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were sent to the organization’s more than 7,000 members recently — and in a dramatic and amusing change from the beige cards that members were given last year, the new ones are the Academy’s new favorite color, black.

Oscars membership card

“A few of us were laughing about it when we got the cards,” said an Academy member who sent TheWrap a photo of the card, which features a shiny black Oscar statue in a triangle on a matte black surface. Members’ names and information are on the rear of the cards, which are used for admittance to Academy screenings and for free tickets to public screenings during Oscar season.

This is the first time the longtime member can remember an all-black Academy card. The color changes annually, but the cards are typically lighter in color, and not as sleek in design.

Of course the color is a design element that has nothing to do with the Academy making a statement about diversity — but it’s one that is coincidental enough to have caught the notice of AMPAS members who laughed about it and brought it to TheWrap’s attention.

The year that began with the #OscarsSoWhite outcry over the second consecutive year of all-white acting nominations, and included an extensive series of steps to increase the diversity of the organization. In June, a record 683 film professionals were invited to join, with a significant number of them being non-white.

And now, whatever color a member happens to be, he or she will be carrying a card that is so black.

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