Six projects, including a new First Nations writers initiative from Screenworks, will share $288,654 from the Screenrights 2024 Cultural Fund.
Now in its seventh year, the fund supports new initiatives that foster the creation and appreciation of screen content in Australia and New Zealand.
This year, applicants were asked to observe the theme of Big Issues: Creative Solutions, with Screenrights also increasing the funding pool by $50,000.
Screenrights board director and cultural fund working group chair Rachel Antony said the 2024 fund drew the largest intake of applications yet.
“With so many tremendous applications to the Cultural Fund – the largest number yet – I don’t envy the assessment panel’s task, but am delighted to be announcing this year’s selected projects,” she said.
“It’s thanks to Screenrights members that we’re able to offer this support to creative communities in Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand and these projects are sure to make an impact.”
The selected projects are as follows:
Pilbara and Kimberley Aboriginal Media (PAKAM) will utilise new WiFi Mesh systems that are being rolled out in remote Indigenous communities by the West Australian Government and Australian Private Networks as a pioneering distribution platform for culturally relevant audiovisual content, with their project ‘Remote Indigenous Media Content on local WiFi Mesh Servers’ receiving a grant of $49,750.
New Zealand’s Pacific Islands Screen Artists (PISA) will receive $50,000 for their ‘Pacific Islands Cultural Guidance for Screen Productions’ initiative, which will create a service to evaluate productions’ cultural needs, connect them with suitable individuals and communities, and ensure cultural authenticity and inclusivity in screen productions.
Maselli Films’ ‘Women in Water: Creating Pathways for Female Surf and Underwater Cinematographers’ will receive $50,000 for a 16-week training program for emerging female cinematographers with a background in surfing, life-saving, or strong swimming skills whose work focuses on water videography.
The Western Sydney Animation Talent Incubator aims to unearth diverse talent from Western Sydney and develop a new wave of animation practitioners through placements with Cheeky Little Media in the three key animation disciplines of design, storyboarding and editing, and will be supported by a $49,984 grant.
Creative Plus Business Group will deliver the ‘Social Enterprise for Screen’ educational program designed to empower filmmakers from under-represented sectors in the screen industry to build sustainable production enterprises that focus on social change both on and off-screen. The organisation will receive $38,920 in funding from the Screenrights Cultural Fund.
Screenworks will receive $50,000 for their ‘First Nations Pathways into the Writers Room’ initiative, addressing under-representation of First Nations screenwriters in partnership with the Australian Writers’ Guild by providing training in note-taking and script coordination, proven pathways to screenwriting careers.