FINCH’s Greg Atwells: We need more young women in creative tech roles or we are all stuffed

| | 1 Comment

Greg Attwells_FINCH.jpgGreg Attwells (left), IP strategist at FINCH, is concerned about the gender disparity in STEM education.

 

Says Attwells: “We need to ignite a passion for creative technology in young women or we are all stuffed. A male dominated tech industry means our capability is limited. New solutions require new people. More women means more possibility.”

 

FINCH has developed a high school creative technology curriculum just for girls, Creatable, which Attwells leads. More than just a high school creative technology course for girls, Creatable teaches young women how to channel their creativity through technology, giving them a platform to realise their potential.

 

He’ll shed light on the program at AdFest 2018 in a session called ‘Female Creative Technologists Are Going to Save the World’, and believes Creatable has become one of the most exciting things FINCH is doing from a cultural perspective.

 

How did the idea for developing a high school creative technology curriculum especially for girls came about?

GA: FINCH recently went through a recruitment process to hire two new engineers for our technology division. We put the call out for any graduating engineers at Sydney-based universities looking to work in storytelling and advertising innovation. We received 67 applications and were shocked to discover that only two of those applicants were female.

The fact that half of the human race is grossly underrepresented in technology became personal. For us, this shifted from being a cause for concern to being a cause for action. New solutions require new people and more women means more possibility. This belief led us to develop and launch Creatable – a creative technology curriculum for teenage girls.

 

Creatable 02 copy.jpgCreatable 01 copy.jpgCreatable - Headlines.001.jpgHow did you convince high schools to run the program?

GA: Rob Galluzzo, our founder and EP, managed to convince a Sydney girls’ private school to let us take 20 Year 9 and 10 students through a one-year Creative Technology program. The aspiration was to teach young women how to channel their creativity through technology, igniting a passion for all things STEM at a critical juncture, before senior subjects are chosen and education pathways for young women are set.

 

In 2017 we saw student enrolments in Year 9 Design & Technology at the pilot school jump from 8 to 50. This year we are taking 140 students across 7 different classes in 4 different schools through the program. We plan to keep on scaling in 2019 and beyond in order to meet cultural needs, correct social norms, and prepare young women for an evolving job market.

 

The program is called Creatable. How does it relate to FINCH’s ambitions as a production company?

GA: At FINCH we aspire to impact culture through work that makes us proud. It’s our statement of deep ambition. By leveraging the talent and experience of our applied technologists, VFX artists, strategists, storytellers and engineers – an alchemy of sorts occurs that makes FINCH a unique place. We’ve simply decided that inspiring young women to express their creativity through technology is something we want to be a part of.

 

Your job title is ‘IP strategist’, which is not a conventional role within a production company – what does your role entail?

GA: FINCH is a really diverse production company, with a tonne of latent IP that sits within the business. All these makers and creators under the one roof means new products and ideas are coming to life all the time. The business needed someone to help commercialise the IP, finding a strategic way to connect these new ideas and inventions with the brand and marketing strategies of our partnering agencies and the brands they represent. I’d never heard of my role either before it appeared on my job description.

 

You’re also a songwriter and artist. Do you still find time to perform & record albums?

GA: Yes I do. This is my side ‘passion’ project. I gig regularly as a solo acoustic artist and I’m always releasing new music. My next single called ‘Satellites’ is released on March 2 in all the usual online places. I’m heavily influenced by artists like Johnny Cash, Dylan, Springsteen and Ryan Adams.

 

‘Female Creative Technologists Are Going to Save the World’ takes place on Wednesday 21 March, 12:15 pm as part of the Craft@ADFEST program. For more information about Creatable, click here: https://www.finchcompany.com/technology/creatable/.