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Because the Company for Public Broadcasting begins dismantling itself following federal funding cuts, Sundance is getting ready for its remaining version in Park Metropolis — a symbolic finish to at least one period unfolding alongside the quiet collapse of one other. Collectively, the moments underscore a actuality that’s changing into tougher to disclaim: the infrastructure that after sustained impartial media and tradition is now not holding.
That collapse kinds the backdrop for a brand new gathering taking form simply past the competition’s official perimeter. From January 23–25, The Solidarity Home will convene artists, organizers, and media builders who see the CPB’s unraveling not as an remoted political consequence however as a part of a broader post-studio reckoning — one during which creators can now not depend on legacy establishments, public or personal, to supply stability, safety, or scale.
Hosted at Distrikt F within the Iron Horse District and working as an official Sundance Institute Affiliate-level companion, the activation brings collectively purpose-driven organizations dedicated to constructing shared infrastructure. (See full checklist right here.) The query animating the area is blunt and structural: What does impartial media must survive the following decade when the programs constructed to help it are disappearing?
“Solidarity isn’t a theme,” stated Seed&Spark CEO Emily Finest, who labored carefully with organizations like Open Tv, BLIS Collective, Brown Ladies Doc Mafia, the Transgender Movie Middle and the Middle for Cultural Energy to create the venture. “It’s a necessity.”
They noticed the Home as a response to business consolidation, political stress on artists, and an more and more unstable funding panorama. Quite than treating creativeness as branding or inspiration, the Solidarity Home advances it as infrastructure to be designed, resourced, and maintained.
Countering a Fragmenting Business
Impartial creators face shrinking public arts funding, risk-averse commissioning, cultural censorship, and fast-moving applied sciences. In the meantime, the normal programs meant to help them are underneath stress themselves.
As a counterforce, Solidarity Home positions itself not as a pop-up lounge or networking suite however a working area the place coalition members align round shared commitments to transparency, care, and collective energy.
“If the gates gained’t open, we collect exterior and construct one thing higher,” stated Solidarity member Aisha Goss, CEO of The Middle for Cultural Energy.
Collaborating organizations agreed to uphold a set of Solidarity Commitments, rules designed to information how assets are shared, how energy circulates, and the way long-term collaborations are shaped past the competition calendar.
From Panels to Observe
Alongside panels on artist security, know-how, and sustainability, the area will host participatory workshops on funding fashions, narrative energy, and inventive labor. A centerpiece is the Liberation Lab, an expo day the place coalition members provide micro-services, technique classes, and experimental labs for artists, funders, and collaborators.
Group gatherings are constructed into the design, with emphasis on alignment over amplification and producing actual dedication relatively than festival-week soundbites.
“We’re coming collectively at a second when every little thing round us is pushing individuals aside,” stated Solidarity member Elijah McKinnon, co-founder and president of Open Tv. “The Solidarity Home is a counterforce.”
For an business lengthy skilled to compete for consideration and shortage, it’s a provocative reframe — and one which will say as a lot about the way forward for impartial media as any movie premiering on Foremost Avenue this January.
The Solidarity Home runs January 23-25, 2026 at Distrikt F in Park Metropolis. Extra info, coalition companions, and the Solidarity Commitments can be found at thesolidarityhouse.com.
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