Ten new projects have been selected to receive a total $150,000 in awards through the 2020 California Documentary Project NextGen grant program. From a youth-led documentary project exploring the issues, challenges, and hopes of young black males in South Central Los Angeles to a podcast series that considers the issues at the forefront of American politics that impact teenagers every day these new projects add to a rich and diverse set of stories about California people and culture.
The California Documentary Project (CDP) is a competitive grant program that supports high-quality humanities-based media productions that seek to document California in all its complexity. Projects use the humanities to provide context, depth, and perspective; enhance our understanding of California and its cultures, peoples, and histories; and should be suitable for both California and national audiences. CDP NextGen supports short documentary films or podcasts that shed light on not only the problems we face, but also on the solutions that youth are proposing and the futures they envision.
CDP NextGen grants are designed for youth media organizations in support of emerging California media makers. Presented in alignment with CA 2020: Youth Perspective and the Future of California, a statewide initiative that focuses on the lives and experiences of young people in California, CDP NextGen invites applications from California-based nonprofit organizations and public agencies with established track records in youth media programming to provide training and media literacy skills to emerging media makers as they create short, insightful, nonfiction films and podcasts that tell original stories about life in California today. NextGen funding is available for up to $15,000 per project.
Additional support for the CDP NextGen grant program is provided by the Walter & Elise Haas Fund.
California Humanities would like to thank all of this year’s CDP NextGen applicants and the many reviewers who contributed their time and expertise to help make the selections.
2020 California Documentary Project NextGen Grants
artworxLA Podcasting Workshop: Power Over Stigma
The H.E.Art Project dba artworxLA
Project Director: Raúl Flores
A youth podcasting workshop for students at the Design & Media Arts Academy at Los Angeles Unified School District’s Central High School exploring themes of hypervisibility, invisibility, and racism.
CMAC Youth Voices
Community Media Access Collaborative
Project Director: Bryan Harley
A project to cultivate and amplify the voices of Fresno’s youth through the production of documentary videos on topics such as restorative justice practices, immigration, health, education, and other issues of community concern.
GIRLS GOVERN 2020
GlobalGirl Media
Project Director: Joanna Friedman
A training program for young women of color in Los Angeles to use digital storytelling tools to process the pain, confusion, and outrage over racial, economic, and gender injustice.
I Am Living as A Black Boy
Sunnyside Baptist Church
Project Director: Dr. Dyke “DK” Redmond
A youth-led documentary project exploring the issues, challenges, and hopes of young black males in South Central Los Angeles.
OFF THE BLOCK 2020: Visions of California
UCR ARTS at the University of California, Riverside
Project Director: Nikolay Maslov
A summer documentary filmmaking program for high school students in Riverside County.
Many Stories, One Town: Cultural Perspectives from Oakland Youth
Oakland Public Education Fund/Youth Beat
Project Director: Jake Schoneker
Oakland public high school students will write, film, and edit personal commentaries that explore a personally meaningful aspect of diversity in Oakland.
Nuevas Novelas—Ancestral Ways into the Future
Justice for my Sister, A Project of Community Partners
Project Director: Kimberly Bautista
A racial justice and gender equality online storytelling program for Los Angeles youth to create interview-based podcasts about land stewardship, environmentalism, community wellness, and media literacy.
tbh: What Teenagers Want Out of the 2020 Election
KALW Public Media
Project Director: Ben Trefny
A podcast series produced by Bay Area high school students that considers the social justice issues at the forefront of American politics that impact teenagers every day, from gun control to immigration to healthcare.
Unchartered: Bay Area Teens Document Living Through COVID-19
Bay Area Video Coalition Inc.
Project Director: Isa Nakazawa
Bay Area teens from diverse backgrounds create video diaries and short documentaries about their unique experiences and reflections during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Zoom In” Series: The End of Racism and Sexism Starts with Stories
BAYCAT (Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts & Technology)
Project Director: Nisa Sanders
An award-winning web series of documentary shorts produced start-to-finish youth, exploring critical social justice issues about the Bay Area region—from the perspective of young people
See a list of all past recipients of California Documentary Project grants.
