The National Endowment of the Arts announced $4.68 million in funding to 76 media-arts projects April 23, including new grantees such as the Online Video Engagement Experience (OVEE) developed with CPB funding, a new initiative from the Association of Independents in Radio called Spectrum America and Sonic Trace, a multimedia production at KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif., that was created through AIR’s recently concluded Localore project.
For a second year, the NEA will continue to support projects that use digital technologies to go beyond traditional broadcasting platforms. In its announcement, the endowment highlighted a $100,000 grant to OVEE, a digital platform that allows web users to interact while watching PBS and local station content. The Independent Television Service developed the technology with support from CPB.
AIR also received $100,000 for Spectrum America, a project that will pair media artists with public stations as they experiment with “new approaches to storytelling.”
Sonic Trace, a co-production at KCRW initiated through AIR’s 2012–2013 Localore initiative, received a direct NEA grant of $75,000 to continue exploring the experience of Latino immigrants.
NEA also backed digital media projects at NPR, providing $100,000 for music programming and multimedia content. Another $100,000 grant went to the feature-length documentary Visions in Motion: Fifty Years of Asian Pacific American Cinema, which will be offered online.
The NEA continued its support to several ongoing public TV and radio series, providing $100,000 grants to POV, a showcase for independent documentaries on PBS; Art21, a series showcasing contemporary artists; and American Masters, a biography series produced at New York’s WNET. NEA also awarded a $100,000 grant to PRI’s Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen, produced at WNYC in New York.
Among more than 30 grants awarded to film and video projects, the Bay Area Video Coalition received backing for video preservation services. Grants totaling $270,000 were awarded to Women Make Movies, a nonprofit that assists with production and distribution of films by women and about women; NEA is backing its educational distribution program ($100,000) and documentary films The Blind Cinema Club ($100,000) and Little Troopers ($70,000).
For a full list of Media Arts grantees, visit the NEA’s Art Works website.