Kendrick Lamar and Sufjan Stevens have been recognised for their work in film by being among a record 928 people to have been invited to become members of The Academy, the organisation which stages the Oscars.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the list of names who have been invited to become members in 2018 today (June 25), with the 928 people – drawn from across the Academy’s 17 branches – invited this year setting a new record for the Academy as it attempts to diversify the make-up of its membership.
49% of the people invited this year by the Academy are women, ensuring that the overall female membership for the organisation now stands at 31%, while statistics for people of colour in the Academy (38% of new members, 16% overall) have also risen.
In the music branch, Lamar and Stevens have been honoured for their recent respective work in film. Lamar executively produced and curated the soundtrack for Black Panther, with Stevens received an Oscar nomination for his work on Call Me By Your Name.
Other notable new members include Timothée Chalamet, Tiffany Haddish and Daniel Kaluuya – you can see the full list of the 928 people who have been invited to join the Academy in 2018 here.
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Back in May, Lamar picked up his 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music in New York.