Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
professional honorary organization
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced AM-pass; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academy's corporate management and general policies are overseen by a board of governors, which includes representatives from each of the craft branches.
As of 2025, the organization was estimated to consist of more than 11,000 motion picture professionals. The Academy is an international organization and membership is open to qualified filmmakers around the world.
The Academy is known around the world for its annual Academy Awards, both officially and popularly known as "The Oscars". In addition, the Academy holds the Governors Awards annually for lifetime achievement in film; presents Scientific and Technical Awards annually; gives Student Academy Awards annually to filmmakers at the undergraduate and graduate level; and honors film artists at the Academy Museum Gala.
The Academy also operates the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, the Academy Film Archive, the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and the Academy opened the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles in 2021. The Academy maintains the largest film-related collection in the world, including 52 million items, which are conserved and exhibited through the Academy Foundation.
History
The notion of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) began with Louis B. Mayer, the studio head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). He said he wanted to create an organization that would mediate labor disputes without unions and improve the film industry's image.
“Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences” enters the record as professional honorary organization. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Academy, Motion and Picture can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.