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Nina West, Hayley Kiyoko, Toddrick Hall and Kermit The Frog are just a handful of pop culture figures set to join Disney+ for its virtual concert.

Hosted by West, Disney+’s This Is Me: Pride Celebration Spectacular will feature performances of notable Disney songs reinterpreted through an LGBTQ+ lens. The Pride event, which will air on Facebook and YouTube Sunday, June 27 at 8 p.m. Et /5 p.m. Pt, also touts performances from Alex Newell, DCappella, Frankie A. Rodriguez and Joe Serafini, Jackie Cox, Jesse James Keitel and Michael James Scott.

Ann Marie Pace, who directed Growing Fangs on Disney’s Launchpad, directs the Pride celebration.

The concert aims to awareness for Glsen, a non-profit that works to ensure that LGBTQ+ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment.

For the inaugural season of Disney’s “Launchpad” shorts incubator, the studio centered on the theme, “Discover,” encouraging audiences broaden their worldview through their short films.

But another word that could describe this first group of films and the filmmakers who crafted them over the last 19 months is “Perseverance.”

When Aqsa Altaf, Stefanie Abel Horowitz, Ann Marie Pace, Moxie Peng, Jessica Mendez Siqueiros and Hao Zheng got the call that they’d been selected to become the first class of filmmakers in Dec. 2019, no one expected they’d have to overcome a five-month production delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It has taken us almost three years to get to this point,” Mahin Ibrahim, director of Disney’s diversity & inclusion, market, who oversees the “Launchpad” program, tells Variety.

The drive to continue on came down to the simple fact that the mission — spotlighting underrepresented stories and storytellers in the marketplace...

Disney’s Launchpad, a new filmmaking program dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices, has unveiled the trailer for six original short films coming to Disney Plus.

All six short films, each centering on the theme of “discover,” will launch on Disney Plus on May 28. The program’s inaugural year features stories by Ann Marie Pace, Aqsa Altaf, Hao Zheng, Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, Moxie Peng and Stefanie Abel Horowitz.

“As a first-generation Muslim Bangladeshi woman, I know how important it is for communities to see themselves on screen, and to empower emerging filmmakers,” said Mahin Ibrahim, director of Disney’s diversity and inclusion, market, who oversees the Launchpad program. “Our goal with the Disney Launchpad Shorts Incubator is to tell six deeply meaningful personal stories straight from the filmmakers’ heart, amplified with the scale and reach that only Disney has.”

Disney plans to continue its Launchpad program, with the theme of “connection” to anchor the second season.

Exclusive: As diversity becomes more of a staple rather than a trend in Hollywood, Disney is stepping up to the plate to amplify underrepresented voices with the inaugural Disney Launchpad: Shorts Incubator program. Filmmakers Aqsa Altaf, Stefanie Abel Horowitz, Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, Ann Marie Pace, Moxie Peng and Hao Zheng were revealed as this year’s participants.

Launchpad is an immersive program in where the aforementioned six directors, who represent diverse perspectives, will produce original, live-action short films. They will have the opportunity to be considered for an exhibition on Disney+ and possible further development. The program also includes professional and storytelling classes led primarily by the program’s educational partner, the American Film Institute.

“We are so excited to work with these six wonderful and talented directors who have so much to say to the world and have such beautiful ways of saying it,” said Mahin Ibrahim, Director, Diversity & Inclusion,...