Bryan Porter, founder, president and executive producer at Seeing Red Media

Snap has announced the second cohort of participants selected for its 523 content accelerator.

The 523 accelerator is a one-year program that offers funding, resources and personalized support to small content companies owned by underrepresented groups to help build their businesses and audiences through the creation of premium Shows on Snapchat.

Seeing Red Media, based on Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, is the first Canadian Indigenous owned and operated media company in the program. For the next year, Seeing Red Media will receive access to resources, mentorship, hands-on learning and financial backing from Snap as the company contextualizes and produces content on the platform.

Bryan Porter, founder, president and executive producer at Seeing Red Media, calls its selection a massive step forward and a tipping point for Indigenous storytelling everywhere.

“It presents a huge opportunity to shine a light on a rich and deep talent pool that has been traditionally underrepresented across social and entertainment platforms,” he said. “We admire collaboration and are very proud to see a global organization like Snap recognizing and supporting the exponential surge of Indigenous creators in Canada, as well as across Turtle Island, and providing a platform dedicated to consistently elevating Indigenous voices at such a critical time.”

Seeing Red Media aims to amplify the voices and vision of established and emerging Indigenous storytellers while increasing representation and cultural accuracy of Indigenous people in all forms of media. Its projects have included the documentary The Water Walker and drama-thriller Asking For It.