LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–1,000 Dreams Fund (1DF), the nationwide program that supports the dreams of talented young women through microgrants and mentorship, in conjunction with HARMAN International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, today unveiled the next generation of the pioneering 1DF Twitch BroadcastHER Grant program. The new 1,000 Dreams Fund BroadcastHER Academy – Powered by HARMAN, will connect female gamers and broadcasters to aspiring young women interested in pursuing careers in the burgeoning live video streaming and broadcast industry.
The 1DF Twitch BroadcastHER Grant program, announced earlier this year, aims to address the gender gap in financial funding for young women in the ever-expanding gaming and broadcasting space with the first set of grants to be announced on August 1, 2018. With the BroadcastHER Academy: 1DF and HARMAN, working with the Twitch community, will fund established female broadcasters to create educational and inspirational content; encouraging and educating more young women on how to successfully pursue opportunities in gaming and across the live video broadcast marketplace.
“The rapid expansion of the BroadcastHER initiative perfectly embodies the 1DF mission,” explained Christie Garton, founder and CEO of 1,000 Dreams Fund. “eSports and live video streaming is a booming, creatively driven and lucrative marketplace – and we want to ensure that women are full participants in the industry. With the generous support of HARMAN, we are fully committed to the young women who are leading in this industry today and who will blaze the trail for others to follow tomorrow.”
The eSports marketplace – including multiplayer video game competitions – is currently an estimated $700MM industry and is expected to double in the next two years.1 There are currently over 300 million avid and casual eSports fans worldwide, and that number is expected to double by 2020.1 While both the eSports and video streaming industries have traditionally been dominated by young men, the influence of young women is growing – both in front of and behind the webcam – but more can be done to support their aspirations. Female gamers are attracting large audiences. Female content creators are exploring new content-rich topics and subjects. And, as the industry expands, so are opportunities for producers, graphic artists, programmers, engineers, and marketers.
“eSports is an incredibly exciting new area for HARMAN with organizers, participants and spectators all presenting enormous opportunities at the convergence of creativity, social community and personal technology,” said Dinesh Paliwal, HARMAN President and CEO. “Encouraging and supporting young women as they pursue studies and careers in eSports is compelling for HARMAN as a global technology company that relies on diverse talent in STEAM concentrations and also as a consumer electronics and enterprise service provider. We are proud to expand our relationship with 1,000 Dreams Fund and accelerate the careers of trailblazing female engineers and content creators who are truly changing the game on so many levels.”
This is not the first time the organizations have partnered to support the advancement of young women in the arts and sciences. On International Women’s Day 2018, 1DF and HARMAN kicked off a second year of the New Face of Tech Scholarship Program where five winners were awarded with a $2,000 microgrant to help pursue their dreams in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) and coaching sessions with a HARMAN executive. Through two years of the program more than $16,000 has been granted out to inspiring young women in tech.
The new 1,000 Dreams Fund BroadcastHer Academy – Powered by HARMAN will begin accepting grant applications from veteran female gamers and broadcasters in the US, Germany, and India this fall. To learn more about the BroadcastHER initiative, visit https://1000dreamsfund.org/apply/1000-dreams-funds-twitch-broadcasther-grant/. Follow @1000dreamsfund on Twitter for future announcements about the partnership.
HARMAN is involved in eSports in a variety of ways. In addition to its premier headphones, HARMAN was recently selected by Allied eSports to provide professional audio, lighting and control solutions at the 30,000-square-foot multi-level eSports Arena Las Vegas, which celebrated its grand opening at the Luxor Hotel and Casino earlier this spring.
About the 1,000 Dreams Fund
The 1,000 Dreams Fund (1DF) is a national scholarship fund for American girls in high school and college. 1DF believes that big expenses should never stand in the way of big dreams. Since its launch in November 2015, over $100,000 in funding has been granted to talented young women in need, helping them pay for the “extras” in school like study abroad, tech devices for the classroom and travel to conferences and seminars. 1DF has been featured in NBCNews.com, USA Today, MarketWatch, Forbes, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Entrepreneur, TODAY and others. To learn more about 1DF, visit http://1000dreamsfund.org/
About HARMAN
HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
1 Deloitte Center for Technology, Media and Telecommunications. 2018 Media and Entertainment Industry Outlook. https://bit.ly/2tfAoah
