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Our Commitment to Anti-Racism, Diversity & Inclusivity

Education is a critical lever to change the societal structures that perpetuate racial inequities.  The Black Lives Matter movement has deepened our commitment and spurred greater urgency to make meaningful changes within our college.

We want to ensure that black, indigenous and people of colour are welcomed, better represented, given greater voice, and provided with stronger supports for success within our college and the industries we represent.  So, we set five goals for actionable change and improvements at CMU.

This is just the beginning of an ongoing, long-term process, but here is a snapshot of our progress over the last few months.

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Goal 1: To add and fully integrate diverse, inclusive subject matter in all programs by expanding the range and depth of diverse subject matter into the core curricula and in required course work.

We revised and expanded our course curricula to ensure that our students are provided with more inclusive training and are equipped with the knowledge and techniques required to work on diverse skin tones and hair types. We produced new textbooks with the first set of curriculum enhancements in July 2020 which will be followed with further updates in the months ahead. We also added diverse subject matter to all teaching tools including lesson plans, PowerPoints, reference materials, photos and both current and historical BIPOC examples.

We have enhanced both our class stock and all CMU student kits with a wider range of tools, products and shades to enable the integration of diverse subject matter into required course work.

We utilize products and brands that suit a global range of skin tones and types, including MAC Cosmetics, Make Up Forever, Skin Illustrator, Viseart, RCMA, and more. The colour portion of our student kit is regularly refined to meet growing and continuously evolving industry standards and needs.  We recently expanded the range of colour products in our student kits to meet the needs of our melanin rich students, clients, actors and models.

Opportunities to work on more diverse skin and hair types will be further enhanced when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

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Goal 2: To increase BIPOC representation throughout our college by increasing diversity in our leadership, hiring more diverse faculty, and attracting and supporting diverse students.

Every member of our diverse administration team shares CMU’s vision of creating a world-class learning environment for makeup artists.  We strive for excellence in everything we do.

We are actively recruiting new instructors.  Our ongoing objective is to build a more diverse faculty team.

In June 2020, we increased our BIPOC leadership with great pride by welcoming long-time CMU consultant and former CMU teacher Robert Weir to our Advisory Board. Robert, together with others, has been instrumental in helping us to meaningfully address issues in our school and our creative industries around diversity and inclusivity.

We have been systematically reviewing and updating both our website and recruitment materials to strengthen the representation of CMU’s increasingly diverse and inclusive learning environment.

We have also created and launched a new ad campaign to better represent and appeal to prospective BIPOC students with the objective of increasing the diversity of our student community.

Goal 3: To be a stronger ally by 1) supporting businesses dedicated to better representing and serving black, indigenous, and people of color, and 2) ensuring that all students are provided with information about CMU policies, procedures and protocols and know where to go for any needed support.

We have and will continue to shift more of our business to suppliers that are dedicated to better representing, serving, and supporting BIPOC communities.

  • Over the last few months we have critically reassessed and made several significant changes to our Student Kits and class stock in order to meet new and evolving needs – including enhanced health and safety considerations, requirements for remote/off-site learning and practice, and the need for a wider range of products and tools for diverse skin tones and hair types.
  • As part of this process, we made a conscious effort to award more of our business to suppliers whose core values most closely align with ours. For example, we recently added five new MAC Cosmetics products to our kits because – in addition to meeting our product quality and reliability requirements – they have a long history of advocating for and supporting marginalized communities  across all ages, races and genders.
  • Going forward, we will strive to increase our support of BIPOC-owned and managed businesses.

CMU is committed to maintaining an educational and working environment free from racism, discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying, and to treating anyone who reports an incident of misconduct with dignity and respect.

  • All students are provided with information about where to go to report any issues and where to get support from CMU. We promise to respond promptly and appropriately, and to provide on-campus investigation procedures, reasonable status updates to the complainant and respondent, and assist those who have experienced any prohibited behaviours.
  • A wide range of services from specialized Student Support Advisors are also made available 24/7 to all students free of charge through CMU’s MyStudentSupport program app.
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Goal 4: To amplify BIPOC voices by using our platforms, privilege, and connections to create a larger stage.

We developed a social media series showcasing members of the BIPOC who have influenced the beauty industry to inspire the next generation of makeup artists.

We also created and launched a social media feature series to showcase CMU BIPOC students/alumni and their work.  This is an ongoing initiative, and we will continue to showcase our BIPOC students/alumni and their inspiring work on a regular basis.

Goal 5: To continue to educate ourselves and the broader community by embracing discomfort and challenging the definitions and practices that sustain racism in all its forms.

We recognize that people can unwittingly participate in and perpetuate racism unless they challenge the status quo. In June 2020, we formed a BIPOC advisory group to help us identify and take well-informed actions to make meaningful change. We are steadfast in our commitment to anti-racism, diversity, and inclusivity, and we are working hard to make further improvements to achieve all of the above goals, including cultural sensitivity training for the CMU community.

Plans are also underway to launch a virtual Industry Expert series with leading makeup artists from the BIPOC community, as well as a BIPOC Alumni Talks series with a focus on sharing lived experiences. We are also working with community partners to sponsor virtual Master Classes dedicated to serving BIPOC communities.

We would like to thank our entire community for taking the time to constructively engage in these discussions and with us and for the support provided in the development and execution of these initiatives.

This is just the beginning.  We look forward to sharing further updates in the months ahead.