Native Telecommunications Announcements, Opportunities and Funding
February 2006
Native Radio Theater workshop opportunity
Native American Public Telecommunications (NAPT), Native Voices at the Autry, and the National Audio Theatre Festivals (NATF) will produce plays for radio theater, featuring original scripts by Native writers, June 18-24, 2006, in West Plains, MO. Native radio theater artists are encouraged to apply. With funding from the Ford Foundation, scholarships are available. Beginners to experts are welcome. The workshop includes Foundation Classes in all aspects of audio theater production including writing, performance, recording, mixing, sound design, directing and much more. Guest directors will produce new plays from the NRT Script Competition held earlier this year. Participants end the week with a live performance on Friday, June 23rd and return home the morning of the 24th. Deadline: March 1. http://www.nativeradio.org/theatre/nrt_scholarships.pdf
Aleut Story DVD available through VisionMaker Video
In the turbulence of war, in a place where survival was just short of miraculous, the Aleuts of Alaska would redefine themselves - and America. From indentured servitude and isolated internment camps, to Congress and the White House, this is the incredible story of the Aleuts' decades-long struggle for our nation's ideals. Narrated by Martin Sheen and original music score by Grammy® winner Mary Youngblood, the program draws compelling parallels to the present, as our country is grappling with challenging questions of balance between civil liberties and national security. http://www.visionmaker.org
Congratulations!
The Joyce Foundation announces that Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate is a recipient of a Joyce Award, which supports Midwest cultural organizations commissioning works by artists of color. Jerod will write a new concerto for guitar and orchestra that incorporates traditional music from Chickasaw and Lakota traditions. Jerod was commissioned by Native American Public Telecommunications for its upcoming "Seat at the Drum," part of Indian Country Diaries coming up this November on Public Television. http://www.taloaproductions.com
Chris Eyre will direct Indian Country: Native Americans in the 20th Century, a four-part series for public television and international broadcast. Indian Country chronicles the history of Native American nations from Wounded Knee to the present and is follow-up to the acclaimed 1995 miniseries 500 Nations. Now in the research and development stage, Indian Country is a Katahdin Productions project that will make extensive use of oral histories, research archives, and outreach to Native American scholars and community leaders. The project is supported by Native American Public Telecommunications. http://www.katahdin.org/
5th Annual Palm Springs Native American Film Festival will feature two Native American Public Telecommunications and VisionMaker Video programs. Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action opens the festival on March 14, and Aleut Story screens on March 15. This event is presented by the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, Blue Rain Gallery of Taos, New Mexico, and Camelot Theatres. http://www.accmuseum.org/
Homeland: Four Portraits Of Native Action screens March 18, 2:00 pm at the National Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling Green, New York, NY 10004. Produced by Katahdin Productions. Inspiring stories of Native American activists working to protect Indian lands and ensure the cultural survival of their people: Gail Small (Northern Cheyenne), Evon Peter (Gwichin), Mitchell and Rita Capitan (Navajo), Barry Dana (Penobscot), and Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabeg). From Alaska to New Mexico to Maine, these leaders and their communities are rejecting multinational energy companies and fighting the rollback of 30 years of environmental laws. Screening followed by conversation with director Roberta Grossman and featured environmental activists Winona LaDuke and Gail Small. http://www.nmai.si.edu . To purchase a DVD of Homeland go to http://www.visionmaker.org/. VisionMaker Video, a service of Native American Public Telecommunications, is your source for authentic Native videos.
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) names Paula A. Kerger new President/CEO. Paula A. Kerger, a top executive at New York's Educational Broadcasting Corporation, licensee of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW New York will become the Public Broadcasting Service's sixth president and chief executive officer. She will succeed Pat Mitchell, who announced her plan to step down as PBS' president and CEO in February 2005. http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20060123_newpbsceo.html
The Native American Journalists Association Board of Directors has selected University of Oklahoma student Christina Good Voice (Muscogee Creek) to fill an open seat on the nine-member board. NAJA President Mike Kellogg (Navajo) said Good Voice's selection is in response to a request last summer by the general membership to propose language for a permanent student seat on the board. Nearly half of the 556-member organization is made up of students. Good Voice is an Associated Press intern and a former Cherokee Phoenix staff writer. NAJA's 22nd Annual Convention, A Celebration of Native American Journalism, is in Tulsa, OK, August 9-12, 2006. http://www.naja.com
Producer Opportunities
60th Annual University Film & Video Association (UFVA) Conference (August 1-5, 2006 - Orange, CA). This event brings University scholars together to share their latest creative and academic work. The 2006 Conference is being hosted by Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange, California. Deadline: March 1. For information about Juried Screenings, Formal Screenings, Papers and Panels, Paper Prize, Scriptwriting and New Media entries visit: http://www.ufva.org/conference.php
Inspiration Film Festival. Inspiration Films, along with parent company Awakened Media, promotes, supports, screens, and distributes films that enrich the human soul. By offering $25,000 in cash prizes, Inspiration helps emerging filmmakers produce their next film. An Inspiration Film can be a feature, documentary, short, animated work, children's film or experimental art film. International films with English subtitles are welcome. Earlybird Deadline February 28. http://www.inspirationfilmfestival.com
The Council on Foundations seeks films and videos for its 40th Film & Video Festival, which will be held in conjunction with its 58th annual conference of grantmaking organizations from April 29 - May 1, 2007, in Seattle, Washington. The festival, co-sponsored by Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media (GFEM), showcases exemplary foundation-funded productions and highlights outreach strategies grantmakers use to advance their program goals. The festival screens selected films at the Annual Conference, the Fall Conference for Community Foundations and the Family Foundation Conference. Foundations that have supported a film or video production, as well as producers, are encouraged to submit projects for consideration. Deadline: March 17. http://www.fundfilm.org/
The 52nd Robert Flaherty Film Seminar will be held June 17-24, 2006 at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York. Celebrating half a century of service to the independent film field, the seminar is a unique forum that brings together U.S. and international media artists, critics, scholars, curators, librarians, and students, who spend a week of intensive viewing and impassioned discussion in a relaxed retreat environment. Deadline: March 20th 2006. http://www.flahertyseminar.org/
Local Independents Collaborating With Stations (LInCS) provides matching funds to partnerships between public television stations and independent producers. Deadline: May 25, 2006 http://www.itvs.org/producers/funding.html
The Diversity Development Fund seeks talented minority producers to develop projects for public television. We want to support minority artists to tell their stories and reach audiences often overlooked by conventional programming. Projects must be in the research or development phase, and cannot have begun production. Have additional questions about the Diversity Development Fund? Email Kathryn_Washington@itvs.org or call 415-356-8383 x258. Deadline: March 31, 2006 http://www.itvs.org/producers/funding.html
"The film festival in your living room now brings you a film festival at your fingertips." ITVS and PBS present the first-ever Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival! Independent filmmakers are invited to submit short-form films, 10 minutes or less in length and in all genres. Deadline: April 7, 2006. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/index.html
The 1st Annual International Documentary Challenge Early Registration Deadline: February 28, 2006 Regular Deadline: March 22, 2006 The IDC is a new timed filmmaking competition where filmmakers from around the globe have just 5 days to make a short non-fiction film. Winning films will screen at a theatrical event presented in association with SILVERDOCS (hosted by AFI Silver Theatre), be released on a DVD, and receive possible television exposure. http://www.documentarychallenge.org/. Sponsored by the International Documentary Association. http://www.documentary.org.
CPB Program Challenge Fund was created in 1987 to support high profile, primetime limited series and specials for the national public television schedule. The Program Challenge Fund is jointly managed by CPB and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which make funding decisions based on mutually established programming goals and objectives. Deadline: March 30, 2006 http://www.cpb.org/
The Radio Program Fund 2006 Request for Proposals is now live on the CPB web site. You'll find that it's a little different from previous CPB Radio RFPs. It includes our effort to find new voices for the public radio airwaves. Deadline: March 31. http://www.cpb.org/grants/06radioprogramfund/ Contact Kathy Merritt, Senior Manager, Program Investments at 202-879-9631 or kmerritt@cpb.org.
Open Society Institute (OSI) releases the RFP for the Katrina Media Fellowship. The Katrina Media Fellowships will support dynamic print and radio journalists, photographers and documentary filmmakers to generate and improve media coverage of issues exposed by Katrina. Deadline: March 31. http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus_areas/katrina
NAJA is accepting entries for the 2006 Media Awards Contest until 5 p.m., March 31. http://www.naja.com/
The Alliance for Community Media (ACM) International Conference: Connecting Communities (July 5-8, 2006 - Boston, MA). Conference tracks include Emerging Media, Media & Telecom Public Policy, Collaborations, Outreach & Marketing, Regulatory and more. Since the Connecting Communities conference is July 4th week, ACM urges you to make your hotel reservations NOW! For more information visit: http://acmboston.org/
Diversity Fellowships in Environmental Reporting (DFER) is a 42-week fellowship program that provides minority journalists with an opportunity to learn basic science, gain environmental research and reporting skills, and apply new knowledge and skills in a 37-week reporting assignment. Deadline: April 14, 2006. http://www.metcalfinstitute.org/
A new funding opportunity has been announced by the South Carolina Film Commission.http://www.scfilmoffice.com/prodfund.html
Student Opportunities
FYI / FILM YOUR ISSUE is a nationwide competition for undergraduate college students to create 30 to 60 second live action or animated "issue films" on any topical issue. As a partner organization, Deadline for submissions is April 7, 2006. http://www.filmyourissue.com
The Freedom Forum is accepting nominations for the 6th annual American Indian Journalism Institute, a three-week summer print journalism program at the University of South Dakota. The free program, which is slated for June 4-23, is open to American Indian college students interested in print journalism and that have completed at least one year of college. The Freedom Forum, which shares offices with NAJA, will also accept applications from former AIJI participants seeking specialized instruction. The application (http://www.freedomforum.org/diversity/application2006.pdf) deadline is March 31. http://www.freedomforum.org/diversity/
Organizers of the Native American Journalism Career Conference are accepting applications from Native American high school groups for the 7th annual workshop at the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. Teachers and advisers interested in organizing student groups to attend the conference April 18-20, 2006, must register by April 1. Native students will be introduced to the basics of journalism by more than 20 experienced NAJA members and other Native and non-Native journalists from around the country. Lodging, meals and conference participation are free to students and their teachers and advisers. For more information, contact Janine Harris at the Freedom Forum at 605-677-5424 or jharris@freedomforum.org. More information can also be seen at http://www.crazyhorse.org/.
The National Youth in Radio Training Project is April 20-22 in Portland, Oregon. Sponsored by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB). Deadline: February 24 http://www.nfcb.org/projects/nyrtp/conference/conference.jsp
The Emma L. Bowen Foundation for Minority Interests in Media is a non-profit organization whose mission is to create career opportunities in the media industry for minority youth through a program that focuses on scholastic achievement, direct work experience and professional development. Deadline: March 1.
Online Calendars
For event listings on a broad range of media-related topics see:
Media Reform Calendar from Free Press http://www.freepress.net/calendar/
Media Advocacy Events Calendar from the Center for Media Action Calendar http://www.mediaactioncenter.org/?q=event
Communications Policy Events Calendar from Benton http://www.benton.org/calendar.htm
Media Arts calendar from the National Alliance of Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) http://www.namac.org/category.cfm?id=1&cid=13&monly=0
Film Arts Foundation calendar http://www.filmarts.org/events.php
Native American Public Telecommunications is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.