Not too long ago, I used to be compelled to do a tough factor: I turned down a grant. The choice was painful as a result of, proper now, the group I lead — Black Public Media — actually wants funding. Congress’ rescission of $1.1 billion in public media assist stripped $1.8 million of dedicated funding from our funds. Like many others within the public media sector, and the higher arts group, my workforce and I are actually scrambling to speed up our fundraising efforts. To remain afloat, we’ve needed to do different onerous issues: trim workers, lower grant-making, and minimize applications.
Fortuitously, BPM additionally has non-public sector assist, so we’re not closing our doorways. A few of our donors are stepping up in outstanding methods, however in at present’s anti-DEI local weather, others are selecting to lie low. As grateful as we’re for the assistance we acquired, it’s unclear whether or not non-public philanthropy alone can fill the $1.8 million hole.
For practically 50 years, BPM has helped impartial media makers convey tales concerning the world Black expertise to the general public. We’ve lengthy served as an important funding supply for content material creators whose initiatives make different funders uneasy. “Hip Hop: Past Beats & Rhymes,” “I Am Not Your Negro,” “Purple Summers VR,” and “Mama Gloria” are among the many lots of of initiatives we’ve supported. Tasks we fund typically present supply materials for narrative movies, video video games and XR experiences, reaching even broader audiences. BPM’s collaborations with PBS convey groundbreaking broadcasts, streaming initiatives, and group engagement initiatives to the general public freed from cost. These initiatives usually do the tough however crucial job of difficult norms and sparking energetic, important conversations.
Pursuing BPM’s mission has by no means been straightforward, however currently it has grow to be particularly fraught. The $35K NEA grant we walked away from was modest, however it might have supported our group screenings program. I made the tough resolution to say no the funding to safeguard BPM’s independence. If we accepted the grant, I frightened we’d find yourself clashing with the federal company over movies that don’t conform with the present administration’s priorities.
Earlier this 12 months, we have been suggested to keep away from utilizing phrases included on the federal government’s rising record of disfavored phrases. The so-called “woke” phrases embrace: range, inclusion, local weather disaster, fairness, systemic, racism, LGBTQ, social justice, minority-serving establishment, pronouns, and Black, the primary phrase in our title! The makers we serve regularly pursue tales addressing the themes on this record. Avoiding these phrases to placate a funder would compromise our very mission — one onerous factor we simply received’t do.
Impartial media makers are experiencing hardships, too. The truth that so many are small enterprise homeowners and job creators in communities throughout the US — and that public funding is a drive multiplier in stimulating native economies — is simply too usually missed on this dialogue.
Earlier this 12 months, the Nationwide Science Basis abruptly terminated components of a $3.2 million grant it had awarded to a Scientists within the Household venture, which features a documentary titled, “My Mother the Scientist.” The award-winning filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris, has over 30 years of expertise within the business. The movie is about his mom’s perseverance in a discipline that didn’t brazenly welcome individuals who seemed like her. This monetary setback impacts not solely Harris, however ripples via to harm all of the subcontractors he would have supported and the engagement actions that will have highlighted different Black scientists in native communities.
Globally, the $13.64 billion documentary movie and tv business creates jobs and advantages a variety of small companies. Corporations that present gear, enhancing providers, graphic design, AV, lighting, catering, costuming, transportation, advertising and marketing, publicity — the record goes on.
Our sister organizations that assist tales from the Asian American, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander, and different underrepresented communities face comparable challenges. The artists all of us work with create content material reflecting the wealthy range of this nation. We’re actually not the one members of the artistic economic system going via onerous occasions. However as public media producers and distributors, our artists’ work is accessible in all corners of the nation, at no expense to viewers. It contributes to the cultural enrichment and connectedness of all People on a scale unparalleled by most different artwork varieties. That’s one thing to be cherished, not dismissed.
The USA is at its greatest and most affluent when artistic freedom rings, information is shared and intolerance finds no shelter. Preserving these beliefs requires extra of us to be prepared to do the onerous issues.
Leslie Fields-Cruz is the manager director of Black Public Media, the nation’s solely nonprofit solely devoted to the event of nonfiction Black content material for distribution on public media. Fields-Cruz joined BPM in 2001 to handle its program improvement fund. She served as director of applications from 2005-2008 and as VP of applications and operations from 2008-2014 earlier than being named BPM’s third govt director in 2014.
