From the Executive Director
| “I sing of Black joy in the hour of chaos…Joy is a human right. Spring is for the taking in…” Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Alliance National Conference 2016 |
I am reeling over so many recent events, it’s hard to keep count anymore. Marc Bamuthi Joseph, VP of Social Impact and Artistic Director of Cultural Strategy at the Kennedy Center, was laid off this week along with seven other staff members as part of the dismantling of the Kennedy Center Social Impact initiative. Through Bamuthi’s leadership, this initiative provided extraordinary, transformative creative programming for local communities and international audiences. I had a feeling this would happen, and my heart is broken for what it represents: the loss of the hope and creative power-for-all that Marc and his team nurtured at the Center.
From Bamuthi’s statement: “How do you access the American promise if you don’t have access to the impulse of creativity? As the nation’s cultural center, the Kennedy Center has an obligation to ask itself that question every day…to respond to the call of its namesake who imagined an America that was ‘unafraid of grace and beauty’. Our work in Social Impact was to widen our cultural radius and to imagine that inspiration itself was a constitutional right afforded to ALL of this nation’s people.“
When I first began my tenure at the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture (aka NAMAC, 2014) we started planning a national conference in Oakland, CA to introduce a new Alliance to the field, a new focus, a broader vision. I knew Marc in the Bay Area during his days as Chief of Program and Pedagogy at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Founding Director of Youth Speaks. I watched him and learned. I was thrilled when he accepted my invitation to speak at the conference, and he delivered a Keynote performance that rocked the room, laying a foundation and context (with Tabitha Jackson, Michael Premo and Joaquin Alvarado) for the work and vision of the Alliance in the years to come. Here is the video of that talk (thanks to JJ Harris at TechBoogie).
As Bamuthi says, Spring is for the taking in.
Wendy
wendy@thealliance.media
Notes from the Field
Acts of Reparation Screenings in Twin Cities & Atlanta
Acts of Reparation, a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture, continues its national screenings in theaters, churches, and movement spaces. The documentary follows the directors Selina Lewis Davidson and Macky Alston, on a journey through the American South to confront the legacy of slavery within their families. The film will be shown at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival on April 3rd at 7 PM and April 5th at 11:05 AM, and at the Atlanta Film Festival on April 16th, at 7:30 PM
The Sounds of US
The Sounds of US is a national collaborative project highlighting local musicians who are making a difference in their communities. The initiative offers cash awards, mentorship, and performance opportunities to artists, bands, choirs, and collectives fostering healing, joy, and connection through music. Anyone can nominate a locally active musician at thesoundsofus.com.
National Immigrant Solidarity Rally & Screening of Borderland | The Line Within
This weekend, March 29th-31st, Skylight Films is making the documentary Borderland | The Line Within free to stream online in solidarity with immigrants facing ongoing violations of their rights under the Trump administration. On Monday, March 31st, at 7 PM, a virtual rally will bring together the film’s protagonists alongside filmmakers, immigration rights leaders, digital humanists, students, and concerned community members from across the country. The event will provide a space to share experiences, strategies, and resources to inspire solidarity and collective action.
Grants and Calls
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Grants
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts offers various funding opportunities for U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organizations, including Exhibition Support for innovative contemporary art presentations, Curatorial Research Fellowships for developing new projects, and Multi-Year Program Support for sustained visual arts programming
Deadline: March 1st
Doc Society Climate Story Fund
Up to $125,000 in funding is available to aid in the completion of production for nonfiction films addressing climate justice issues through the Doc Society Climate Story Fund. The fund is specifically looking for narratives that come from underrepresented communities engaged in creating climate solutions.
Deadline: March 10th
Sundance Institute | Sandbox Fund
The Sundance Institute’s Sandbox Fund provides non-recoupable grants and artist support for independent nonfiction filmmakers with projects that use storytelling to explore the connection between science and culture.
Deadline: March 10th
Roy W. Dean Film Grants
The 2025 Roy W. Dean Spring Grant, provided by From the Heart Productions, offers $3,500 in cash and a range of professional resources to independent filmmakers with a unique vision, whose work contributes to society, and who could have difficulty finding funding otherwise.
Deadline: March 31st
Workshops, Festivals, Convenings
Overlook Film Festival, April 3rd–6th, New Orleans, LA
Neumann Inspires Film Festival, April 4th, Aston, PA
Miami Film Festival, April 4th–13th, Miami, FL
Sarasota Film Festival, April 4th–13th, Sarasota, FL
Cleveland International Film Festival, March 27th–April 5th, Cleveland, OH
USA Film Festival, April 23rd–27th, Dallas, TX
TCM Classic Film Festival, April 24th–27th, Hollywood, CA
Atlanta Film Festival, April 24th–May 4th, Atlanta, GA
Job Bank
Vice President of Community Impact, The Native Arts + Cultures Foundation, Portland, OR Senior Director, Development and Partnerships, Ageorge, Toronto, ON Director, Humber Cultural Hub. Humber Polytechnic, Toronto, ON Executive Director, Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC Executive Assistant, Reel Medicine Media, Anywhere |
Media Policy Watch
Last week, the Trump administration imposed a wide range of restrictions on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), continuing its efforts to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from the federal government through two Executive Orders. On Monday, the NEA received a directive from the White House Office of Management and Budget requiring that all federally funded arts programs must align with “traditional American values.” The directive prohibits organizations from promoting “gender ideology” and bans programs that use racial quotas.
In response to the Executive Order, over 400 artists signed an open letter urging the NEA to refuse compliance with these new regulations. This is not the first time the NEA has faced pressure to withhold funding on ideological grounds. In 1990, a group known as the NEA Four was formed after Congress passed a clause that led to grant rejections based on the concept of “decency.” Performance artist Holly Hughes, one of the NEA Four, spoke to Hyperallergic last week about the recent Executive Order, stating, “The two targets of these restrictions—queer and trans artists, as well as the broader communities affected by anti-DEI language—are being targeted across all forms of public funding.”
In line with Trump’s efforts to control arts institutions, Deborah Rutter, who had served as president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the past decade, was dismissed from her position. Many of the organization’s board members were also replaced with individuals loyal to Trump. She spoke about the experience two weeks ago in an interview with NPR where she expressed a deep concern for the future of arts institutions.
From The Alliance Blog
by Saki Bowman
The first time I walked into a film industry mixer, I felt like I was wearing someone else’s clothes.
You know that feeling? When your shoulders are too tight and you’re hyper-aware of where your hands should be? I had rehearsed my elevator pitch so many times that the words had lost all meaning. “I’m a filmmaker specializing in…” Wait, what was I specializing in again? The script I’d memorized dissolved as soon as someone made eye contact.
It’s taken me years to find a healthy balance between my personal creative vision and my professional brand. Years to understand that the most powerful networking happens when we stop trying to “network” altogether.
The Myth of “Perfect Professional”
Let’s talk about the myth first—the one that says you need to appear fully formed when meeting industry folks.
During my apprenticeship at Wide Angle Youth Media in Baltimore, I made countless mistakes. Some technical (like accidentally deleting footage—backup systems, people!), but most were relational. I’d enter spaces desperately trying to project confidence, focusing so much on how I was being perceived that I couldn’t actually connect with anyone.
As the first federally registered Arts2Work apprentice focusing on Editing and Multimedia Production, I was fortunate to be paired with filmmaker Elissa Moorhead as my industry mentor […]
read more at thealliance.media
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