Black Public Media and CPB have announced four recipients of the Jacquie Jones Memorial Scholarships, presented to honor the late executive director of BPM.
CPB created the $300,000 fund to memorialize the Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, who died in January 2018.
“Jacquie Jones’ legacy is one of vision, innovation and inclusion,” said CPB President Pat Harrison in an announcement earlier this month. “We are very proud that the first recipients of the Jacquie Jones Scholarships, through their storytelling, honor this vibrant legacy.”
The scholarships support producers of four documentary projects. BPM did not announce individual grant amounts.
Documentaries supported by the scholarships:
- A Place to Learn, from Producer Rachel Dickson and Director Kevin Shaw. The documentary, in production, follows a fight to save an elementary school in Chicago’s black community. Funds will go to story research, crews and editors.
- Through the Night, Producers Loira Limbal and Jameka Autry, Director Limbal. Limbal said the grant will support this vérité documentary, her first film since becoming a mother. It profiles struggling working mothers and a childcare provider at a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, N.Y.
- Silent Beauty, Producer and Director Jasmin López. The New Orleans-based filmmaker is creating an autobiographical film of her family history with child sexual abuse. López, whose project is also backed by the Southern Documentary Fund, said she will use the grant for remaining production costs.
- Gil Scott-Heron, Producer Yvonne Shirley and Director Orlando Bagwell. The documentary about the famous poet and musician’s personal and political struggles is in its rough-cut phase. Filmmakers said they will use the grant for editors, motion graphic artists, an archival researcher and music supervisor.