Film and Activism
Working Films News

MacArthur Grant to Working Films Strengthens and Promotes Innovation & Impact of Social Justice Media

January 7, 2011 BY Molly Murphy

MacArthur Foundation2011 has started with a bang, as we celebrate our 10th anniversary with a new grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The grant will support a new residency open to the field of filmmakers and non-fiction media makers, intended to support strategic collaborations between non-profit/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and story-driven documentaries.

This one-year grant of $300,000 will enable us to research, design and facilitate a week-long residency built around one urgent theme. Following the residency, and supported by the grant, we will launch a high profile campaign between the filmmakers and NGOs dedicated to the thematic issue at hand.

The goal is to turn “competition” for space in the media landscape into unprecedented collaboration. These new partnerships will leverage multiple opportunities for audiences of social issue films to contribute to civic engagement and progressive public policy shifts. Stay tuned; we will be announcing details of the residency in the coming months.

Press Release in PDF.

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