Screenrights has announced four projects to be funded in the second year of its annual Cultural Fund. The Fund was established in 2018 to support innovative projects that foster the creation and appreciation of screen content in Australia and New Zealand.
Three recipients will each receive $50,000: Light Sound Art Film, to support The Staging Post Education Project, a schools workshop program, website, and social media program that builds on 2017’s The Staging Post documentary to facilitate understanding and dialogue between Australian students and refugees living in transit in Indonesia; Documentary Australia Foundation for DocAccess, an online, interactive portal that will provide educational resources to filmmakers, communities and individuals to create social impact and change; and New Zealand group Maoriland Charitable Trust, to support Through Our Lens, an indigenous youth peer-to-peer workshop initiative supporting collaboration and strong networks for youth Māori filmmakers and fostering future leaders and diverse screen voices.
Film Outreach Australia will receive $25,000 towards delivering strategies and tools to regional venues and presenters that will help them to develop new screen audiences for a diverse range of screening programs and film festivals.
“We are delighted to be able to support a range of innovative initiatives again this year. The four recipients of the Cultural Fund are doing incredible work to facilitate the telling of impactful stories by and for diverse communities,” said Screenrights CEO James Dickinson. “These initiatives also represent creative approaches to broadening access to screen stories for a diversity of audiences.”
Applications were assessed by a panel of professionals with local and international expertise in the screen industry and in education.
For its second year of the Cultural Fund, Screenrights continued its focus on the connection between education and screen content.
The recipients shared their reactions to the news:
“Six years ago, I drove up the hill to ‘meet a refugee’ and I have learnt so much since that time. I love that The Staging Post film, Q&A’s and workshops offer Australians an opportunity to ask many of the same questions I had on that first visit,” said Jolyon Hoff. “Thanks to the Screenrights Cultural Grant I The Staging Post project is going to be able to extend this opportunity to many more Australian schools, and to develop an ongoing and sustainable program of education, connection and understanding.”
Speaking for Maoriland Charitable Trust, Rangatahi Manager Madeleine de Young said, “Ma te huruhuru ka rere ngā manu – with this funding we really are being given the feathers (huruhuru) to fly!”
“We are absolutely thrilled to be awarded as a 2019 Screenrights Cultural Fund recipient. Regional Australians are second-class citizens when it comes to accessing quality independent cinema on the big screen,” said David Horsley of Film Outreach Australia. “The Screenrights Cultural Fund will help us educate venue staff all around Regional Australia on how to develop new screen audiences in their local communities, based on what we do ourselves with the Screenwave International Film Festival on the Coffs Coast.”
Documentary Australia Foundation’s Clara Williams Roldan said, “This support will allow us to develop and launch DocAccess, our innovative and interactive portal that will drive social change through storytelling. Over the past decade, we have seen how stories can build understanding and bring communities together. We work closely with filmmakers, educators and passionate people to use film to create impact. DocAccess will allow us to scale up this work, bring a suite of tools to all of Australia. We look forward to developing DocAccess with the support of Screenrights and our partners Pro Bono Australia and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal.”
ABOUT SCREENRIGHTS
Screenrights is a non-profit member organisation that licenses various uses of screen and radio content and distributes money from these licences to rightsholders. The money collected is paid based on agreements in place – rightsholders can include producers, broadcasters, distributors, writers, composers, music publishers, directors, artists and others. Screenrights is a leader in the audiovisual industries, forging dynamic connections between screen industry and screen audiences.
Media enquiries and for interviews, contact:
Tracey Mair, TM Publicity
Ph: +61 (0)2 8333 9066 or +61 (0)419 221 493
