From the Executive Director
As June comes to an end, Summer of Storytelling begins at the Alliance. During July and August, we sponsor programs and highlight the work of our members and partners who are true frontline creative leaders — supporting artist development and training, reinforcing community health and wellness, curating cultural events, mentoring and lifting youth voices — and so much more. In the next two summer issues of the eBulletin, we will share some of this work and urge you to support these artists and organizations in every way possible. Shout them out on the socials, write a love note, show up to a screening or event, offer a free artist talk, contribute some money.
As
a media arts service organization, many of you know that the Alliance
is dedicated to building the field by facilitating collaboration,
expanding workforce development and funding opportunities for artists
and organizations, increasing access to innovation and technology, and
deepening cultural impact. We work to embolden creative media
organizations + artists and deepen our connections around the world. In
this 45th year of the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture, we are thrilled to introduce MARKA —
a new digital archive platform, part of our ongoing Open Archive
Initiative, conceived and collectively developed in our Innovation
Culture Studio.
MARKA is a Digital Community Archive platform, where artists,
organizations and communities will have a safe, affordable place to
preserve and archive their media, make their collections available to
their communities, publish public-facing websites and devise creative
ways to curate public programs, support archival productions and offer
licensing opportunities to values-aligned partners. With the support of
Alliance member organizations, funders, creative partners, Board
members, teaching artists, and a global community of archivists — MARKA will soon be ready for launch. We
owe deep gratitude to Question Bridge Education Project, KALW UnCuffed,
The Last Mile, Hip Hop Education Center, Skylight, and WLCAC for their
participation as founding organizations, and to teaching archivist
Martha Diaz, who is mentoring all of us.
What differentiates MARKA in the marketplace is its integration with Arts2Work, the creative workforce development initiative sponsored by the Alliance that offers on-the-job training and Registered Apprenticeships for community-based Digital Archivists — the first in the US. Organizations can now have a place to archive their media legacies, share them with the world, and support the training and advancement of their own community as future digital archivists, producers and creative leaders.
If there was ever a time to embed digital archiving as a practice, it is now. The way to combat a government committed to cultural erasure is to get loud; to be present; to protect and uplift community, and preserve the stories that must be told.
***
Please check out our just-released Season Two of our podcast, Arts2Work Conversations, hosted by Saki Bowman. Thanks to guests Martha Diaz, Vernon Jordan III, Chihiro Wimbush, and Ryan Burvick. This is some powerful inspiration.
As always, please join the Alliance, reach out, connect with us.
~ Wendy
Notes from the Field
Wide Angle Youth Media MediaWorks Exhibit and Celebration
Join Wide Angle Youth Media in Baltimore on Friday, August 8th, to celebrate the culmination of their MediaWorks summer workforce program. The event will showcase a diverse range of work created by young artists exploring careers in media arts, including video, photography, animation, writing, and music production.
CALT Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship
Apply by August 11th for the Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship, which supports six storytellers from the region with a $5,000 award, a handcrafted award by a Black Appalachian artist, and a year-long membership in the National Association of Black Storytellers. Fellows will be honored at the “In the Tradition…” festival and invited to return as performers the following year.
Grants and Calls
cliveRd. Proof of Concept Short Film Grant
Black Film Space and startup cliveRd. are offering a $10,000 production
grant for short film scripts under 15 pages that serve as a proof of
concept for a feature or series, with a focus on futurism and a unique
perspective on Black life and identity.
Deadline: August 4.
Narrative Short Film Contest
The Film Fund is offering up to $10,000 in funding for short narrative
films. To apply, filmmakers submit an under 200 character, one-sentence
pitch that describes their film’s premise and how they will use the
funding. The contest is open to filmmakers worldwide.
Deadline: August 19.
Film Independent Screenwriting Lab
Held in Los Angeles, this two-week workshop supports emerging screenwriters with a fiction feature script through one-on-one creative advising, group sessions, and a final pitch event with industry executives.
Deadline: August 25.
Workshops, Festivals, Convenings
Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival, August 1–9, Oak Bluffs, MA
Sidewalk Film Festival, August 18–22, Birmingham, AL
Telluride Film Festival, August 28–September 1, Telluride, CO
Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival, September 2–7, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Camden International Film Festival, September 11–14, Camden, ME
Media Policy Watch
In late July 2025, the Rescissions Act of 2025 was passed by Congress
and signed by President Trump. The act cuts $1.1 billion in federal
support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the main
source of funding for NPR and PBS. As a result, on October 1, 2025,
public broadcasters will lose all federal funding. Widespread layoffs have followed the signing of the act, particularly at rural and tribal affiliate stations — public broadcasters that serve communities often neglected by corporate media.
In a recent interview with The Washington Post,
NPR CEO Katherine Maher discussed the network’s $8 million emergency
relief effort to offset funding cuts for member stations and described a
surge in “rage giving” private donations. Maher warned that the cuts
will have a devastating effect on local stations, stating,
“I expect you’ll see nearly immediate loss of universal coverage in
hard‑to‑reach parts of the country, as well as layoffs of journalists
covering local and state news.
A recent study showed that PBS accounts for nearly half of first graders’ preferred television programming. This finding underscores the critical role PBS plays in early childhood education and highlights the necessity of preserving public broadcasting.
Job Bank
Director, Film Forum — New York, NY
Executive Director, RiverRun International Film Festival — Winston-Salem, NC
Executive Director, Community TV Network (CTVN) — Chicago, IL
Creative Arts Educator, Venice Arts — Watts, CA