Filmmakers of color play a crucial role in our cultural landscape. Their unique lens allows them to tell diverse stories, many of which would otherwise go untold. Yet, too often, they are underfunded and underresourced. People of color remain the least represented demographic in filmmaking, both on screen and behind the camera. But Color Congress is working to change that and is calling upon funders to do the same.
Founded in 2022, Color Congress defines itself as “an ecosystem-builder committed to organizations led by people of color (POC) that serve nonfiction filmmakers, leaders, and audiences of color.” The organization believes that the stronger the ecosystem, the more empowered the film industry is to shape narratives that advance change, so it is intentional about building the collective power of the over 100 organizations in the ecosystem. These organizations include nonprofit film festivals, artist support and narrative change organizations, micro-cinemas, filmmaker collectives, and public media entities across the United States and US islands.
An Ecosystem for Change
In its report, The People of Color Documentary Ecosystem: Engines for a New American Narrative, Color Congress synthesizes findings from these organizations and puts forth recommendations for how philanthropy can support the ecosystem’s power. Sonya Childress and Sahar Driver, the founding co-executive directors of Color Congress and co-authors of the report, note that even while experiencing chronic philanthropic disinvestment and limited organizational capacity, the organizations within the ecosystem have been supporting powerful work.
“People of color represent 37 percent of the population, but just 4 percent of all foundation arts funding is allocated to groups whose primary mission is to serve communities of color.”
Color Congress members include groups like Comfrey Films, a Durham, NC-based film training program and production house designed to launch Black trans, gender nonconforming, and intersex (TGNCI) storytellers into independent filmmaking and to tell stories at the intersection of Black and TGNCI experiences. Another member organization, Represent Justice, believes in the documentary form as a pathway to empowerment and activism for people impacted by the carceral system.
One of Represent Justice’s most recent films, Kemba, told the story of Kemba Smith, a formerly incarcerated woman and advocate who received clemency from President Clinton after initially being sentenced to 24.5 years in federal prison during the War on Drugs. Stories like these are critical examples of why the work of filmmakers of color are essential to telling diverse stories that have the potential to enact change.
Color Congress estimates that, in 2023 alone, the organizations within the ecosystem collectively served more than 15,000 documentary filmmakers, more than 10,000 documentary film professionals, and more than 20 million audience members. The report also notes that the majority of the organizations are overwhelmingly led by women, most of whom are founders, and 94 percent of the founders self-identify as filmmakers. Many of these founders say that they created their organization to address disparities they saw or experienced firsthand as filmmakers of color. Coming from the film industry, they have created these organizations without formal training in nonprofit governance.
Many of these organizations also struggle with financial instability as they strive to serve diverse communities. The report notes that 24 percent of Color Congress members operate with an annual budget of less than $50,000, 17 percent have no full-time or part-time staff, and 75 percent of the organizations that are fiscally sponsored have no paid, full-time staff.
“This idea aligns with our membership’s articulated collective vision of a reimagined documentary landscape.”
Noting the disparity that has historically existed between White-led organizations and POC-led organizations, the report cites a 2017 study entitled, Not Just Money: Equity Issues in Cultural Philanthropy. This study found that “people of color represent 37 percent of the population, but just 4 percent of all foundation arts funding is allocated to groups whose primary mission is to serve communities of color.”
Color Congress has sought to address this disparity by supporting the organizations in the ecosystem. In its first year, the organization started a grant program to offer unrestricted two-year grants to organizations with small budgets that were doing critical work but had not yet received national funding. Additionally, Color Congress is resourcing a $300,000 annual Field Building Fund.
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After months of engaging in a collective process to decide how best to utilize this fund, Color Congress members gathered online earlier this year, according to the People of Color Documentary Ecosystem report. They decided that their priority for 2024 will be to shape and implement a collective distribution and sales solution to combat the distribution challenges that many filmmakers in the field face. Particularly with the rise of streaming platforms and amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, film distribution has become increasingly difficult. Filmmakers, even those with more resources, have to think creatively about how to better market and distribute their films. While this marketing experiment seeks to support Color Congress members, it would also benefit the filmmaking industry more broadly.
“This idea aligns with our membership’s articulated collective vision of a reimagined documentary landscape. It also proves that when this ecosystem’s ambitions are realized, the entire field benefits,” the report states.
But Color Congress knows it cannot do this work alone. As the organization endeavors to utilize its Field Building Fund, it also calls upon philanthropic partners to help the ecosystem reach its full potential.
Because organizations like Color Congress’s members often slip through the cracks of funder guidelines, philanthropic partners miss opportunities to reshape American life.
Why Philanthropists Overlook Filmmaker Serving Organizations
Filmmaker serving organizations face an uphill battle when seeking funding. Part of that is because arts and humanities funders tend to focus on the performing arts. The report also notes that journalism funders often consider documentaries “too entertaining or aesthetically focused for portfolios that are most dedicated to newsrooms.”
At the same time, many culture change funders worry that documentaries don’t have enough popular appeal to shift mainstream culture. Social issues and narrative change funders often seek more evidence that documentary filmmaking has the power to advance change.
Because organizations like Color Congress’s members often slip through the cracks of funder guidelines, philanthropic partners miss opportunities to reshape American life, the report notes. The report continues, stating that even when POC-led organizations that serve filmmakers meet all the funder guidelines they are still often ignored by funders, making their critical work invisible.
Color Congress calls upon philanthropy to take the lead of its own funders—the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Perspective Fund—and respond to the needs of the ecosystem, specifically by contributing to the unrestricted grant program or Field Building Fund, or directly funding organizations that make up their membership.
Additionally, Color Congress urges funders to be proactive about finding ways to provide wraparound support for the organizations, whether it is communications and fundraising support or management training and transition planning.
As the report reads, “There is an opportunity for the sectors that benefit most from documentary work to invest in our member organizations and the emerging ecosystem in which they can thrive.”
