From the Executive Director
This month, I’m leaving a Note to Every Aspiring Presidential Candidate. Here goes:
The current Administration’s takeover and decimation of artistic, cultural, creative, scientific, educational, environmental, historical, and humanities institutions is an assault on all the people of this country. Please run truthful campaigns, fervent, powerful, intelligent, and compassionate campaigns. Put the restoration of our communities, our shared histories, and our global relationships at the top of your to-do lists. Tell us clearly what you CAN and WILL do to strengthen and unite us, so we can work together to repair and heal the world we’ve broken and what is left of our nation and our democracy.
At 2pm ET on October 2nd, the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture will host Activating the Archive, a conversation about opening our collective archives, activating media and reimagining the future. It’s all about how the stories we hold, and how we hold them, speak truth to power. In this session, we will screen film clips and display photographs from community archives, ask questions together and celebrate the power of artists in these times. How do the stories we preserve and retell heal us from these very hard times? How does the joy we generate from memory build our collective futures? We are thrilled to be partnering with Fall of Freedom and the national network of artists and organizations coming together in solidarity and love. REGISTER HERE.
Find out more about Fall of Freedom, find events to attend in your areas and register your own event! falloffreedom.com/
Join the Alliance community: thealliance.media/join/
Learn new things in the Resource Library: thealliance.media/resources-library/
Find your next opportunity in the Job Bank: thealliance.media/job-bank/
Get inspired in the Screening Room: thealliance.media/screening-room/
Hire an Apprentice: arts2work.media/
Read a new Storytelling Matters article about filmmaker Byron Hurt: thealliance.media/storytelling-matters
Notes from the Field
ArtsVote Launches 2026 Campaign
Americans for the Arts and the Arts Action Fund have launched their ArtsVote campaign for the 2026 election cycle. The initiative will feature artist performances and public art installations near polling sites in an effort to mobilize arts and culture voters. In addition, ArtsVote has announced a national open call for visual artists to create a new interpretation of its logo. The deadline for submissions is September 22nd.
2026 National Arts Service Organizations Survey Opens
The 2026 National Arts Service Organizations Survey is now open to U.S.-based arts organizations and programs that provide services to artists. The survey is part of the multi-phase Understanding Arts Service Organizations in a Changing Arts Ecosystem study, which aims to better understand the role, impact, and evolution of Arts Service Organizations and contribute to an open-source database of organizations. Responses must be submitted by October 9th.
Grants and Calls
Vision Maker Media: Biomimicry and Indigenous Knowledge
Native filmmakers can apply for funding to aid in the production of a 10–20 minute documentary short exploring Indigenous knowledge, ecological stewardship, land-based healing, and relationships with living systems. Four filmmakers will receive grants of up to $25,000 each to produce their projects.
Deadline: September 30th
Black Public Media Open Call
Independent filmmakers working on feature-length nonfiction projects can apply for Black Public Media’s Open Call. Up to five projects will receive $20,000 in production funding and an invitation to participate in the 2027 PitchBLACK competition, where one project will be selected to receive an additional production award of up to $150,000.
Deadline: October 1st
Frameline Completion Fund
A range of projects, including documentary, narrative, experimental, animated, and episodic works focused on LGBTQ+ people and communities, are eligible for the Frameline Completion Fund. Selected films will receive grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Projects must provide a rough cut.
Deadline: October 9th
Roy W. Dean Fall Grant
Documentary, narrative feature, short film, and web series projects are eligible for a cash prize of $3,500 through the Roy W. Dean Film Grant. Projects should be budgeted below $500,000 and can be at any stage of production.
Deadline: October 31st
Workshops, Festivals, Convenings
Camden International Film Festival, September 17th – 20th, Camden, ME
Nashville Film Festival, September 24th – 30th, Nashville, TN
Chicago International Film Festival, October 14th – 25th, Chicago, IL
Philadelphia Film Festival, October 15th – 25th, Philadelphia, PA
Virginia Film Festival, October 21st – 25th, Charlottesville, VA
New Orleans Film Festival, October 22nd – 27th, New Orleans, LA
Media Policy Watch
by Priscilla Genet
Late last month, President Trump called for a bipartisan federal film and television production incentive. Following the announcement, industry groups and unions released a study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association, projecting that a federal tax credit would “support 143,500 additional full-time-equivalent jobs in an average year and generate $133.1 billion in additional labor income during the credit’s first nine years,” according to Politico. Representative Laura Friedman, who is helping lead the congressional effort, said, “Every production that goes overseas takes electricians, carpenters, drivers, and small business revenue with it.”
This month, the Trump administration filed a brief in support of OpenAI in a copyright lawsuit brought by newspaper companies including The New York Times over the use of copyrighted articles to train the large language models used by ChatGPT. OpenAI and the Justice Department argue that the use of copyrighted material is protected under the doctrine of “fair use.” In a statement reported by WIRED, The New York Times spokesperson Graham James said the Justice Department is “siding with a handful of trillion-dollar AI companies at the expense of the countless American creators whose work they stole.”
The filing marks the first time the federal government has weighed in on the wave of copyright lawsuits over AI training. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 over the use of its articles to train AI systems.
Job Bank
Immersive Studio Developer/Operator, BronxNet Public Media Corporation, Bronx, NY
Vice President of Human Resources and Labor Relations, LA Opera via TOC Arts Partners, Los Angeles, CA
Director of Development, The Cape Playhouse via TOC Arts Partners, Dennis, MA