Almost one year to the date that Heather Gearken began her tenure as the newest CEO of the Ford Foundation, the parent organization of JustFilms released its anticipated new strategy yesterday: How We Meet This Moment. Any time a foundation changes leadership, there’s the expectation that this new person will have an opportunity to put her own stamp on the work; in fact, it’s safe to assume that a board chooses a new leader precisely because the person’s experience, expertise, and vision aligns with where the the trustees want the foundation to orient itself in the upcoming decade or so – at the least. So while strategy pivots under these circumstances are par for the course, they can also be anxiety-provoking for the program staff, grantees, and partners whose livelihoods and missions are at stake. Depending on how you measure it, Ford is in the top ten to top three US foundations by assets ($18 billion endowment) so to say their reach is extensive is an understatement. Their decisions will reverberate across a huge range of our civic and cultural sectors.
No field has perhaps been on pins and needles for the past year more than documentary film, and for good reason. The Ford strategy review comes on the heels of profound loss of federal support for the US documentary ecosystem. Cuts to the NIH and NEA and the shuttering of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting pulled an estimated $45 million out of the field in one fell swoop. A study commissioned by – you guessed it – the Ford Foundation, finds that this, along with related pullbacks from private philanthropy, amounts to a 40% reduction in available funding for independent filmmakers and their projects in the past two years.
It’s hard to overstate the Ford Foundation’s impact on the documentary ecosystem. Since its inception in 2011, the JustFilms initiative has put at least $130 million into documentary film projects, organizations, and broader field-building initiatives in the United States as well as abroad. The number is likely higher; this is a rough estimate based on publicly-available information. I wasn’t around for the 2011 Sundance announcement of the 5-year, $10 million per year investment into documentary films, but my guess is that it represented a massive step-change in institutional support for the form. Ford coming in with this kind of support must have catalyzed others to follow suit, ushering in a new era of grant support for independent nonfiction film for the following decade-plus.
Ford is so significant to the field that it’s the first word in what’s become shorthand-speak for the three major institutional doc funders: “FordMacArthurPerspective.” So I’m likely not the only one combing through How We Meet This Moment for signs of what we can expect. Some first impressions:
What isn’t stated is perhaps more revealing than what is: no use of the words “documentary,” “film,” “storytelling,” “JustFilms,” or even “narrative change.”
They are reorganizing the foundation around a smaller number of priorities: “...instead of dividing our attention among 19 defined programs and 28 lines of work, we will focus on seven interconnected funding areas in order to execute at sufficient scale to meet the problems before us.” The seven funding areas are described in the subsequent pages, but what isn’t stated, specifically, is what’s phasing out. Or perhaps morphing into a new form within the new structure.
Ford commits to maintaining four core tenets of their mission; most related to film is their “steadfast commitments to human potential and achievement as a means to inspire and elevate; to the arts and culture and free expression, and empathy more broadly, essential to a vibrant democratic life.” Sounds encouraging on the face of it, but also quite broad.
Of the seven funding areas, the one that seems most aligned with storytelling of any kind is “Defending information as a public good.” The emphasis here, however, appears to be on development of “public-interest technology” as a bulwark against Big Tech: “To realize the potential of digital technologies to enable and advance healthy information ecosystems, we must alter how they are designed, deployed, and governed.”
In addition to what they will fund, the statement also offers a few hints as to changes to how they will fund. The third, “Innovation and Sector Investment” includes: “And we will explore creative new financial models that will ensure that the work of artists and arts institutions is sustainable over the long term.” I can certainly get behind this idea, as we know all too well that the current financial models are failing us. While I will follow these developments with great interest, we don’t yet know what exactly “arts and arts institutions” means and what the “creative new models” look like.
During times like these my thoughts are mostly centered on foundation program staff and the stress that institutional shifts like this can bring. It’s one thing for me to sit here in the comfort of my armchair at home and perform a forensic analysis of a public statement; it’s another entirely to be on the inside, navigating both the internal dynamics of change and external relationships with grantees and partners. All of my interactions with current and former Ford Creativity and Free Expression (the program area that includes JustFilms) team members have led me to believe they are some of the most deeply committed and passionate advocates for the documentary form and those who make it that you’ll ever meet. I’ve only witnessed them do the very best work possible within the structures, norms, and mandates of a massive organization. I have no idea what the release of this new strategy means for them and their professional futures, but I wish to extend to them a massive dose of grace and goodwill, and a commitment to remain an ally and champion whatever the future holds.
It’s too early to say anything definitive about Ford’s commitment to documentary film, and I refuse to engage in either optimism or pessimism in this moment of uncertainty as an opportunity to gin up my, or anyone else’s, emotions. There is still much to learn. Whatever the outcome we’ll deal with it; after all, what’s the alternative?
One recommendation: I first discovered Radio Paradise back when iTunes was brand new and brought something called “internet radio” into my living room. Which, according to Wikipedia, was back in 2001, which just about tracks with my memory. For the past 25 years, Radio Paradise has provided my everyday soundtrack, through alllllll the changes in platforms and media delivery formats. Back then, human-curated was the standard; now it’s a standout feature. It’s an ad-free, listener-supported 24/7 eclectic music mix that emanates from the Sonos speakers in my house as well as via the app and even on my laptop when I travel. The public media fan in me kicks $20 to RP every month via Patreon, and it’s more than worth it. I make Spotify mixes based on my favorite RP listens… the GenXer in me still loves a good mix! A friend of RP recently posted a little documentary about the station and its founder on YouTube; it’s not quite the film I would make, but still provides some fun backstory. I hope the service brings even a sliver of joy to your life that it has to mine.
I always found it interesting that the former president of Ford Foundation, Darren Walker, left to be the head of Anonymous Content. I don't know that there's anything we can read into that, but it felt like a surprising move at the time.
Like…??????