The announcement came amid recent backlash over the absence of actors or filmmakers of colour in this year’s Oscars nominations. This prompted actor Will Smith, director Spike Lee and a handful of others to say they plan to shun the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 28. The membership rule changes, among the most sweeping in the academy’s 88-year-old history, were unanimously adopted by the organisation’s Board of Governors, the group said in a statement.

But the reforms would not affect voting for this year’s Academy Awards. A lack of diversity within the academy, whose ranks consist mostly of older, white men, has long been cited as a barrier to racial inclusion in Hollywood’s highest honours. But many critics point to the scarcity of opportunities for minorities and women on either side of the camera in a film industry that largely relegates them to marginal or stereotyped roles.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who became the first African-American to assume the organisation’s top post in the summer of 2013, has commended the move. Isaac said that it was a demonstration that the academy “is ready to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up.” However, Ava DuVernay, who became the first black filmmaker to earn a Golden Globe bid for her Oscar-nominated civil rights drama “Selma” last year, said the academy’s action was a long time in coming and taken only under duress.