National Geographic announces the All Roads Seed Grant Program which funds film projects by and about indigenous and underrepresented minority-culture filmmakers year-round and from all reaches of the globe. The program seeks filmmakers who bring their lives and communities to light through first-person storytelling. Grants range up to a maximum of $10,000 each. Submission deadlines are quarterly on the 15th of each March, June, September, and December.
The Arca Foundation is dedicated to the pursuit of social equity and justice, especially for the underserved. While the Foundation's specific program focus may change from time to time, they achieve their fundamental purpose by supporting efforts that can affect public policy. Since 2005, the Arca Foundation has supported projects with strategic focuses on media and democracy reform. Average grant size: $50,000. Application deadline: March 1 and September 1, annually.
The Broadcasters' Foundation of America Endowment Fund provides financial assistance in perpetuity to fellow broadcasters who, through no fault of their own, are in acute personal financial need. The endowment is used exclusively to support the benevolent outreach of the Broadcasters' Foundation of America. To qualify for help, an individual must go through a detailed application process which includes a financial statement, income tax returns, reference checks, and a physician's medical statement, when appropriate. Monthly grants vary in size depending on individual circumstances. Application deadline: open.
The Council on Foundations and Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media (GFEM) are seeking submissions of films and videos for the Council on Foundations' 42nd Annual Film & Video Festival, to be held May 4-6, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia. To be eligible, projects must have received full or partial funding for either production or distribution from a private, community, operating, or corporate foundation; a corporate giving program; or a donor network. The grantmaker does not have to be a member of the Council on Foundations or GFEM. The council will not consider submissions that have been funded solely by public agencies or federal or state grants. The films and videos must have been completed within the past two years. Works may be of any length; from feature length to a brief public service announcement. No works in progress will be considered. Organizations and filmmakers may submit as many film and video projects as they wish. Each entry must be accompanied by a check in the amount of $60 payable to the Council on Foundations. The fee helps cover a portion of the program's administrative expenses. Application deadline: June 27, 2008.
The Dart Center Ochberg Fellowship has been established by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma in order to build a cohort of journalists better prepared to report responsibly and credibly on violence and traumatic events, including crime, family violence, natural disasters, war, and genocide. The Dart Center provides six or more expense-paid fellowships to mid-career journalists who want to apply knowledge of emotional trauma to improving coverage of violent events. Fellowships are open to print and broadcast reporters, photographers, editors, and producers with at least five years of journalism experience. Fellows will attend a seminar on the role emotional trauma plays in coverage of violent events, then will have access to all events and speakers in the annual conference of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. The 2008 seminar will take place November 11-15 in Chicago, Illinois. Application deadline: July 30, 2008.
The Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project is offering a grant to documentary photographers who have already completed a significant body of work on issues of social justice to collaborate with a partner organization and propose new ways of using photography as a tool for positive social change. All photographers must have another entity (such as a nonprofit, NGO, or community-based organization) that will work with the photographer to design an innovative distribution strategy that targets specific communities and advocates for social change. Grants of $5,000 to $30,000 will be awarded. June 20, 2008.
Lifetime Movie Network is launching the second annual Every Woman's Film Competition. The competition is open to all women who are legal residents of the United States and who, by the entry date, are at least 18 years of age. Competition entrants will produce short films of three to five minutes in length. First and second place winners, as well as three honorable mentions, will be selected. In addition, the LMN.tv audience will have a chance to vote online for their favorite film and determine the selection of a special LMN.tv Audience Winner. The judge selected first and second place winners will receive $5,000 and $2,500, respectively, to advance their film projects, exposure on Lifetime Movie Network and LMN.tv, as well as trips to both the Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment Breakfast and the Hamptons International Film Festival, where they will be featured guests. The three honorable mention recipients, as well as the favorite filmmaker chosen by the LMN.tv audience, will win $1,000 each. Application deadline: July 8, 2008.
Enterprise Community Partners and the Freedom Forum are accepting entries for the 2008 Excellence in Urban Journalism Award. The annual award encourages and recognizes quality reporting on major issues facing the United States' urban areas, particularly inner cities. The award is open to professional journalists who work in a variety of formats and submissions may be made by individuals or teams. Two winners will be selected and each will receive an award and a check for $2,500. Each entry must involve a news report regarding an urban issue in the U.S. Topics may include, but are not limited to, affordable housing, community development, homelessness, child care, and the after-effects of disasters. The entry may be a single article or broadcast, or a series that was published or broadcast during the 2007 calendar year. Individuals or their news organizations may submit an entry. Application deadline: July 30, 2008.
The Felix Varela Award for Excellence in Spanish-Language Journalism in the United States of America will recognize the best Spanish-language journalism produced during 2007 and 2008 in the U.S. The program's award ceremony will be held for the first time in September 2008 in Philadelphia. In its first year, the contest will choose winners in three categories: Hispanic Print Journalism; Hispanic Digital Journalism; and Hispanic Immigration Stories. Due to increased interest in the newly unveiled award program, the category of "Hispanic Immigration Stories" will feature works published in any U.S. mainstream newspaper. This category will be open to articles and stories written in English effectively covering or illuminating an aspect of the topic of immigration. In the first edition of the awards, the jury will accept entries published between January 1, 2006, and June 30, 2008. Each category winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize. Application deadline: June 30, 2008.
Getty Images annually offer Grants for Editorial Photography to provide photojournalists with the time, freedom, and support necessary to produce documentary features that raise the bar of visual excellence. Every year, Getty Images awards five photojournalists individual grants of $20,000 each. Grant recipients are given the opportunity to sign a one-year exclusive-rights deal with Getty Images whereby their work will be marketed and available for license to customers worldwide through gettyimages.com, while retaining copyright of their imagery. To apply for a Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography, applicants must be presently engaged as a professional photojournalist and apply as an individual. The next deadline is November 15, 2008.
The Google Grants program supports organizations that share the company's philosophy of community service worldwide in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy, and the arts. Designed for 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, Google Grants is a unique in-kind advertising program that harnesses the power of Google's flagship advertising product, Google AdWords, to non-profits seeking to inform and engage their constituents online. Each organization awarded a Google Grant receives at least three months of in-kind advertising. In the United States, applicant organizations must have current 501(c)(3) status as assigned by the Internal Revenue Service to be considered for a Google Grant. Google Grants recipients are selected every quarter. Application deadline: open.
The Greenhouse Fund competitively awards grants for industry training and professional development projects for public television professionals and independent producers. The goal is to prepare public broadcasters and independent producers for entry, advancement and/or leadership. Eligible applicants include: US based film producers, production companies, training organizations, media companies, and public television professionals; whose project demonstrates feasibility based on adequate research and consultation; and whose project demonstrates benefits to the public television community. Application deadline: rolling.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will engage community foundations in a grant-making challenge to find creative uses of media and technology to help keep communities informed and their citizens engaged. The $24 million five-year Knight Community Information Challenge is launched as the media world undergoes rapid change and acknowledges that there is less local information readily available. The challenge is premised on two strongly held beliefs: in a democracy, information is essential for a community to function properly; it is a core need, and since community foundations are established to meet core community needs, they are logical partners in meeting the information needs of communities. The Knight initiative has three parts: a grant-making program that will invite community foundations to propose ideas to meet information needs in their communities; community foundation help to develop the ability to plan and execute their ideas; and a Media Learning Seminar on February 16-17, 2009 to help community foundations learn about the information needs of communities in a democracy. The challenge is open to all community foundations. Pre-proposal due date: September 15, 2008. Final proposal due date: October 15, 2008.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Journalism Program grants promote freedom of the press in the United States or abroad. Of particular interest are programs that educate current and future journalists, promote the defense of First Amendment rights, or support a free press in the United States and worldwide. The foundation encourages interested organizations to send a one-to-two page letter of inquiry before submitting a proposal. Eligible applicants include U.S. based nonprofit organizations. Contact: Knight Foundation, Wachovia Financial Center, Ste. 3300, 200 South Biscayne Blvd, Miami, Fla. 33131-2349; (305) 908-2600. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit an online letter of inquiry. Application deadline: open.
On October 29, 2007, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the start of the LPTV Digital-to-Analog Conversion grant program that will help low-power television stations continue analog broadcasts. This grant program will provide funds to eligible low-power stations that must purchase a digital-to-analog conversion device to convert the incoming digital signal of a full-power television station to analog for transmission on the low-power station's analog channel. Eligible applicants include: low-power television broadcast stations; Class A television stations; television translator stations; or television booster stations which need a digital to analog conversion device to convert the incoming digital signal of its corresponding full-power television station to analog format for transmission on the low-power television station's analog channel that is itself broadcasting exclusively in analog format; and that has not purchased a digital-to-analog conversion device prior to the date of enactment of the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005. (February 8, 2006). Award ceiling: $1,000. Application deadline: February 17, 2009.
The Media Research Hub is part of the Social Science Research Council's Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere program, which works to ensure that debates about media and communications technologies are shaped by high-quality research and a rich understanding of the public interest. The Media Research Hub Collaborative Grants program is accepting applications for grants of up to $7,500 each for research that supports public-interest efforts to change the media/telecommunications infrastructure, practices, policies, or content. The grants are intended for short-term, advocacy-centered research, completable and usable by advocacy partners within the next four to twelve months. Proposals must be submitted by a U.S.-based nonprofit advocacy, organizing, or community group working on media and/or telecommunications issues (groups with nonprofit fiscal sponsorship are also eligible); and structured as a partnership with an academic researcher based at a University, college, or other research institution. This can include advanced graduate students. There are no citizenship requirements for participants in these projects. Application deadline: September 8, 2008.
The Program Challenge Fund was created in 1987 to support high profile, primetime limited series and specials for the national public television schedule. The Challenge Fund, jointly administered by CPB and PBS, funds high-visibility, high-impact limited series and feature length documentaries that offer a definitive take on a subject or break new ground in popular, public service media. Any station, person, or entity is eligible to apply. Application deadlines: December 6, 2007; April 3, 2008; August 7, 2007; and December 4, 2008.
CyberAlert, Inc., an online media monitoring company, has announced that the company will award a minimum of ten public relations grants to not-for-profit organizations. Each grant consists of one full year of news monitoring/press clipping services, ranging in value from $2,700 to $3,900. All not-for-profit, educational, and charitable organizations in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply for the grants. Application Deadline: December 31, 2008.
The scholarship program is intended to support and extend training beyond a public television station's normal training capacity; enabling station management and staff to access more training and professional development opportunities than the stations training budget would normally support, i.e. in-station training, major giving initiative meetings, SABS training, staff functional skills training, or job-related for/non-credit courses. Small public television stations with an NFFS of $2M or below may apply. Award ceiling: $2,000. Application deadline: rolling.
Squeaky Wheel, a media arts center in Buffalo, New York, is offering a four-week National Endowment for the Arts International Digital Filmmakers Residency. The residency is designed for mid-career experimental filmmakers who are interested in "crossing the digital divide" but lack access and training. The one-month residency provides unlimited access to 16mm production and post-production systems, the G5 Final Cut Pro digital editing system, and digital video cameras. It also includes private lodging, travel, and a $1,000 stipend. The residency requires the artist to complete and exhibit at least one new work, teach a local workshop on any topic related to media art, and curate a screening of films/videos that relate to the resident's own creative investigations. Students are ineligible to apply. Application deadline: June 16, 2008.
The Greenhouse Fund competitively awards grants for industry training and professional development projects for public television professionals and independent producers. The goal of the fund is to prepare public broadcasters and independent producers for entry, advancement and/or leadership by providing: Forums for introducing new technologies Skill building through workshops; Opportunities to showcase best practices; Mentoring programs for career professionals; Training that addresses novice to mastery levels of expertise; New strategies to increase competitiveness; Conferences to bring new voices and new points of view into the public television system; Forums to address key issues about public broadcasting that concern independent producers and system professionals. Eligible applicants include: U.S. based film producers, production companies, training organizations, media companies, or public television professionals. Application deadline: rolling.
The The Victor C. Clarke Youth Incentive Program from the National Association for Amateur Radio makes minigrants to groups that demonstrate serious intent to promote youth participation in amateur radio and enrich the experience of radio amateurs under the age of 18. Eligible applicants include, but are not limited to, high school radio clubs, youth groups, and general-interest radio clubs that sponsor subgroups of young people or otherwise make a special effort to get them involved in club activities. Eligible activities include: securing equipment for antennas for club stations, purchasing training materials, supporting local service projects that bring favorable public exposure, and other similar activities. Award ceiling: $1,000. Application Deadline: ongoing.
