“The season between spring and autumn:
a period of maturing powers…”
At the Alliance, the Summer of Storytelling has officially begun. We spend as much time as possible over the next few months uplifting our member artists and organizations and their programs, festivals, classes, premieres, projects—and sharing them with the world. Our socials will blow up with short videos by Senior Producer Valentina Vargas and our Power of Storytelling grantees, we’ll share press and stories of our Arts2Work partners, and you can hear new episodes of the Art2Work Conversations podcast with affiliated artists hosted by Arts2Work Community Manager Saki Bowman. Please submit announcements for your summer events to priscilla@thealliance.media, and join us on IG and FB.
If you are someone who acts as a custodian of a media collection as an artist, archivist, culture bearer, or leader — you must grapple with the complexities of facilitating this material, and how to preserve, digitize, archive, and share the stories that you, your people, and your community organization create. Please consider applying to our upcoming Multimedia Archival Storytelling Lab — it’s an exciting 3-session virtual program led by Jocelyn Arem of Arbo Radiko. The Lab includes:
- PRESENTATIONS from Digital Archivists, Creative Technologists and Documentary Filmmakers
- DISCUSSIONS of best and emerging practices in the field of Archival Production and Curation
- BREAKOUTS for participants to share their archival challenges and brainstorm ideas with experts
- COLLABORATIVE WORK to experiment with new platforms, strategize the transformation of archival material into multimedia creative projects and experiences, generating new ideas to revitalize stories, add revenue streams, and deepen community connections.
Folks accepted to the Lab receive a $500 honorarium upon completion, and follow-up creative/tech coaching + mentorship. If you have archival content to which you would like to give new meaning—through a remix video project, a multimedia installation, an anniversary compilation, a book, live performance, or any hybrid multimedia experience — come on.
Last thing for this PRIDE issue of the eBulletin: I’m so PROUD to announce that our XR Gallery project, Ancestral Futurism Unapologetically Melanated, recently won BEST METAVERSE at the 2024 Los Angeles New Media Festival. We are looking for investors and grantmakers who would like to see this space open to so many new possibilities, new artists, new curators, and new XR producers. Throw on your Oculus headset and check out work by Lola Flash, Catherine Blackburn, Jessi Ujazi, Valentina Vargas, Karo Duro, and Sadaah Espii Proctor. I love it and want so many more folks in the Alliance network and beyond to experience what we made and be part of the next generation of the work. Thanks to Epic Megagrants and the Los Angeles New Media Festival for supporting the first iteration of the Gallery. More to come!
Please join the Alliance and take part in Communities of Practice, Arts2Work programs, the Open Archive Initiative, our Youth Media Network, the Innovation Studio, our Power of Storytelling grants, and so much more.
Have a wonderful Summer of Storytelling.
Notes from the Field
The Watts Labor Community Action Committee + the Alliance are Searching for Programs Lead Instructor
Professional filmmakers experienced in teaching are invited to apply for the position of Lead Instructor in Multimedia Producing for the upcoming Arts2Work pre-apprenticeship program for emerging media makers. The program, sponsored by WLCAC and the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture and taking place on the Watts campus of WLCAC, is a yearlong work-based training program that will prepare young video and audio producers, ages 18–24, for media industry jobs.
The Lincoln Center Hosts Catherine Breillat Series
Coinciding with the opening of her new film Last Summer, Film at Lincoln Center hosted a career retrospective of the maverick filmmaker Catherine Breillat. On Last Summer, critic David Ehrlich wrote for Indie Wire that despite its “wine-drunk aesthetic,” it maintains Breillat’s trademark intensity and “its effervescent sheen […] nothing but a natural distraction from the uncertain gloom that comes with the fall.” The series included a Q&A with Breillat on what many consider her Magnum Opus, Fat Girl.
Grants and Calls
ITVS Open Call
The ITVS Open Call provides independent producers up to $350,000 in funding to complete production for a standalone broadcast-length documentary that will air on public television. This funding opportunity supports exceptional storytelling that takes risks, tackles important issues, and serves underserved audiences.Deadline: June 3
Austin Film Society Grant for Feature Films
Film and Video artists located in Texas are invited to apply for the Austin Film Society Feature Film Grants. Grants for both Production and Development are available, with $15,000 available for films in production and $15,000 for films in development.
Deadline: June 6th
The IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund
The IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund supports in-depth explorations of original, contemporary stories that integrate journalistic practice into the filmmaking process. Established in 2017, this fund prioritizes projects combating misinformation on social media and other internet platforms by using journalistic principles like fact-checking and research. Filmmakers worldwide can apply, and the fund aims to help them retain their independent voices while creating artistically rigorous work accessible to general audiences.
Deadline: June 25th
IDA Open Call for the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund
Documentary filmmakers worldwide are encouraged to apply for the IDA Open Call for the Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund. The theme for this years is Gender Justice. The fund offers over $500,000 in grants to support feature-length documentary films and immersive nonfiction media projects that reflect the spirit and nature of Pare Lorentz’s work. These projects exhibit objective research, artful storytelling, strong visual style, artistic writing, and outstanding music composition, as well as skillful direction, camerawork, and editing.
Deadline: June 25th
Job Bank
Lead Instructor Multimedia Producing, The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC), Los Angeles, CA
Youth Media Documentary Film Instructor, Educational Video Center, New York, NY
Senior Coordinator, Education Initiatives,
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Los Angeles, NY
Animation Teacher, Venice Arts, Venice, CA
Vice President, Academy Theaters, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Los Angeles, CA
Executive Director at Thurston Community Media, Thurston Community Media, Olympia, WA
Director, Campaign, StoryCorps, Brooklyn, NY
Media Policy Watch
As the use of AI technology across sectors ramps up, the energy use necessitated by the massive data centers used to power AI has garnered criticism. In an article by Lois Parshley for Jacobin, researcher Alex De Dries reports that the power consumption of Google’s new AI-enabled search is three times the energy consumption of its traditional search. In an effort to quell those concerns, tech leaders are desperate to find alternative methods for producing the energy necessary to fuel their centers. A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights efforts by Microsoft, supported by tech leaders like OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, to establish a start-up focused on energy from atomic fusion, as well as other experimental clean energy projects. Tech companies believe their research into these technologies will promote the adoption of clean energy technologies, but critics doubt it will be immediately effective.
Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, has announced its sudden closure, which took place on June 7th, laying just under 700 faculty members and causing the closing of one of Philadelphia’s foremost art cinema theaters, the Lightbox Film Center. The Lightbox Film Center has existed since 1970, having moved in 2019 from the International House following the building’s sale. In an article for the Philadelphia Inquirer, amid documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge lamenting the loss of the theater, its director Jesse Pires expressed hope that his programming legacy will continue in some form stating, “The city deserves a space that showcases innovative, rare, important works of film […] That’s certainly something that I’d like to see continue to happen. And if I can be part of it, that would be great.”
Workshops, Festivals, Convenings
New York Asian Film Festival, July 12th-28th, New York, NY
Waco Indie, July 18th-21st, Waco, TX
Essence Film Festival, July 5th-July 7th, New Orleans, LA
Comic-Con July 25th-28th, San Diego, CA
Woods Hole Film Festival, July 27th-August 3rd, Woods Hole, MA