The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced $5.7 million in grants to seven organizations that will support filmmakers and nonfiction media makers from diverse backgrounds.
$2.25 million will be re-granted to independent film projects over three years, with remaining funds providing support for fellowships, workshops, training programs and professional development, the foundation announced Tuesday.
The grants will support interactive and feature documentary projects through the Sundance Documentary Fund’s New Fronteir and Native Programs, enable black filmmakers to experiment with non-liner digital storytelling, provide a new stream of grant funds for filmmakers in the U.S. South and “equip social movements with nonfiction short films.”
The following organizations will receive the grants: Bay Area Video Coalition, Center for Asian American Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, National Black Programming Consortium, Southern Documentary Fund, Sundance Institute and Working Films.
“Together, these seven organizations deepen the pool of people who tell the nation’s stories through documentary, including new media storytelling platforms, formats, and technologies,” said Kathy Im, Director of Journalism and Media at MacArthur, in a statement.
The above-listed organizations join eight other nonfiction multimedia storytelling institutions already supported by the MacArthur Foundation, which include Firelight Media, American Documentary, ITVS, Kartemquin, Tribeca, AIR, Chicken & Egg, and the recently launched IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund.
For the last two years, MacArthur has been investing in the documentary community through new partnerships to support a growing number of filmmakers and new media artists. The Foundation supports creative people, institutions and influential networks. Additionally, the program also funds professional nonprofit reporting on critical and under-reported areas.