The Documentary Forum

CCNY Center for Film, Journalism, and Interactive Media

RESOURCES

Grants for Media Projects

National Endowment for the Arts
Federal agency, described on their web site as “The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education.”

Roy W. Dean NYC Film Grants
Funding shorts, docs and independent features that are unique and make a contribution to society.

Latino Public Broadcasting
Open Call Open Call is an open invitation to independent producers to submit proposals for a public television program or series on any subject that relates to or is representative of Latino Americans. LPB funding will average between $5,000 and $100,000 for programs of most genres and at any production stage.

Center for Asian American Media
The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible.

Black Public Media a.k.a. National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC)
NBPC has a legacy of proudly supporting producers and digital media storytellers who represent the global Black experience.

Tribeca Film Institute ‘s Tribeca All Access Program
TAA supports working filmmakers who come from communities statistically underrepresented in the film industry. For films that are in all stages of production or post. Grants of $15,000, plus eligibility for a $10,000 Creative Promise Award.

Asian Women Giving Circle
A donor-advised fund of the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Asian Women Giving Circle supports social change arts projects by Asian women in New York City.

Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant
Through the generosity of Loreen Arbus, New York Women in Film and Television has established the Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant. The film completion grant for $7,500 will be awarded to a woman filmmaker for a film on physical or developmental disability issues. Directors and producers are eligible to apply.

Pacific Islanders in Communications Media Fund
The goal of Pacific Islanders in Communications is to support the development of national public broadcast programming that enhances public recognition of and appreciation for Pacific Islander history, culture, and society. PIC accomplishes this by nurturing and supporting filmmakers through its Research & Development (R&D), Production, and Completion funds.

NAPT Public Media Content Fund
NAPT wishes to extend the impact of the documentaries broadcast on PBS. Priority will be given to projects that can be part of an overarching series presented to PBS about Native American peoples, history, culture and contemporary issues. NAPT is particularly interested in projects that profile Native American leaders, activists and artists—those whose work has great impact on Native culture today. Native Word: Stories Past & Present is the working title for this documentary series.

Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Open Call
Chicken & Egg Pictures supports female or female/male partnerships directors of non-fiction feature, non-fiction short, hybrid, new media/multiple platforms, and other film genres.

National Geographic Society’s All Roads Film Project Seed Grants
The All Roads Film Project is a multimedia festival and grants program dedicated to providing a platform for indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture storytellers from around the world. The objectives are to showcase works by these artists to promote knowledge, dialogue, and understanding with a broader global audience.

Ford Foundation JustFilms
Ford’s Social Issue Film Funding Initiative will provide approximately $16 million through an open-application process to filmmakers and media makers around the world who are creating documentaries that address urgent social issues.

POV’s Annual Call for Entries
POV, public television’s premier showcase for independent, nonfiction film seeks programs from all perspectives to showcase in its annual national PBS series. All subjects, aesthetic approaches and lengths are welcome.

Jerome Foundation
Grants of up to $30,000 will be awarded to individual film and video artists living in New York City who work in the genres of experimental, narrative, animation, and documentary production

The Princess Grace JustFilms Documentary Awards
These funds will be awarded to help support social justice documentary thesis projects of students in undergraduate/graduate programs and final projects of individuals participating in production programs at media arts centers. In this inaugural year of the grant, an emphasis is placed on filmmakers and films that focus on South Asian and Southeast Asian communities.

ITVS Open Call
Open Call provides completion funds for single nonfiction public television programs on any subject, and from any viewpoint. Projects must have begun production as evidenced by a work-in-progress video. Open Call funding is only available to independent producers who are citizens or legal residents of the U.S. and its external territories.

BAVC Mediamaker Fellows Program
The 2012 BAVC MediaMaker Fellows program is designed to engage artists in a year-long series of opportunities that support project development through professional mentorship in multiplatform and transmedia storytelling through emerging technologies, strategic social media, marketing, and fundraising.

New York Foundation for the Arts
Artists’ Fellowships are $7,000 cash awards made to individual originating artists living and working in the state of New York for unrestricted use.

The Global Film Initiative
Global Film Initiative production grants are awarded twice a year, in winter and summer, to international filmmakers whose work exhibits artistic excellence, authentic self-representation and accomplished storytelling.

Minnesota Film and Video Grant
The Minnesota Film and Video Grant Program will award grants to emerging film and videomakers from Minnesota or New York City in the disciplines of experimental, narrative, documentary and animated film and video making. The Minnesota Film and Video Grant Program places emphasis on projects in their early stages of production. Projects in the post-production phase will also be considered.

LPB’s Public Media Content Fund
An open invitation to Independent producers to submit proposals for a program, series or short web-based digital video projects (no longer than 20 minutes) on any subject that relates to or is representative of Latino Americans that is appropriate for Public Television and/or one of its platforms.

NALIP Latino Producers Academy
Documentary and Narrative projects will benefit from comprehensive skills development. Documentaries in post-production will have the opportunity to re-cut and score sequences with intensive mentoring on their rough cuts and completion plans.

HBO-NALIP Documentary Contest
HBO has teamed with NALIP to find the next great Latino documentary film. They will award $10,000 to the winner of their Documentary grant.

Cinereach
Cinereach supports feature-length nonfiction and fiction films that are at the intersection of engaging storytelling, visual artistry, and vital subject matter. Grant amounts can range from $5,000 – $50,000 per project and can be awarded to support any stage of production, including research and development, production and post-production.

Moving Image Fund
LEF New England launched the Moving Image Fund (MIF) in 2002 to support independent film and video artists creating new work. In its transition from a broader to a more defined funding strategy, LEF is currently focusing MIF support on documentary filmmaking. Through MIF, LEF provides funding across all phases of production, supporting films from the early risk-taking stage, through a film’s completion

NEH’s Bridging Cultures through Film: International Topics
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) supports projects that examine international and transnational themes in the humanities through documentary films. These projects are meant to spark Americans’ engagement with the broader world by exploring one or more countries and cultures outside of the United States.

NEA Arts in Media Grant
Grants are available to support the development, production, and national distribution of innovative media projects about the arts and media projects that can be considered works of art. Grants generally range from $10,000 to $200,000.

San Francisco Film Society Documentary Film Fund
The SFFS Documentary Film Fund will support riveting documentaries in postproduction distinguished by compelling stories, intriguing characters and an innovative visual approach. A total of $100,000 was disbursed annually between 2011 and 2013 to documentary filmmakers nationwide.

The Manhattan Community Arts Fund
The Manhattan Community Arts Fund (MCAF) grant provides up to $5,000 for arts projects by individual artists and small nonprofit organizations in Manhattan.

From the Heart Productions Grant
From the Heart Productions is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to funding films that are “unique and make a contribution to society”. Grants are now available for shorts, low budget independent, and documentary films.

Resist Funding for Social Change
Resist funds organizations that are actively part of a movement for social change and demonstrate an understanding of the connections among oppressions.

TFI New Media Fund
The Tribeca Film Institute, in partnership with the Ford Foundation’sJustFilms initiative, has announced the launch of the TFI New Media Fund. The fund will provide support and funding to nonfiction, social issue film projects that integrate film with content across newer media platforms – from video games and mobile apps to social networks and micro-blogging.

Creative Capital
Creative Capital provides integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing adventurous projects in five disciplines including Film/Video.

Finishing Funds from Experimental TV Center
Finishing Funds assists NYS media artists with the completion of works of moving-image and sonic art – audio, film, video, new media and Web-based forms.)

Diverse Voices Project
POV, public television’s premier showcase for independent, non-fiction film is seeking to support emerging filmmakers through its Diverse Voices Project, a co-production fund supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

In-kind Resources:

Roy W. Dean Los Angeles Grant
Started in 1992 by Carole Dean. This is a goods and service grant with donations close to $30,000.00.

NYWIFT In-Kind Post-Production Grants
New York Women in Film and Television is offering grants of in-kind post-production services to documentary films directed and produced by New York area–based women filmmakers. Grants for an online session and/or a sound mix will be awarded. Films may be up to one and a half hours long. The Grants will be awarded to help complete a work-in-progress. Films must have completed principle photography and be at a rough cut or fine cut stage to be eligible.

Women’s Film Preservation Fund
The Women’s Film Preservation Fund, founded by New York Women in Film & Television, seeks proposals for the preservation or restoration of American films, from any era, in which women have held significant creative positions, including, but not limited to, writer, director, producer, editor and performer.

The Standby Program
Standby is an innovative non-profit media arts service organization providing artists and independent makers access to state-of-the-art media services at affordable rates.

The Indie Film Clinic
The Indie Film Clinic provides free legal services to qualifying New York filmmakers producing independent, documentary, and student films. All clients of the Clinic are represented free of charge on a range of legal issues critical to any production, including: copyright research, registrations, and assignments; guild registrations; drafting and negotiating writer’s agreements, employment agreements, and intellectual property licenses; location agreements and permits; depiction releases; and more.

Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant
This grant funds first time documentary makers for travel and accommodations at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, April. For four days, grant recipients will be given access to films, participate in master classes and be mentored by experienced filmmakers. TWO filmmakers will be chosen for the grant in its fifth year.

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