Acra, NY—Wave Farm announced today thirteen grantees for the Spring 2024 round of the Media Arts Assistance Fund (MAAF) for Organizations, a regrant program with the New York State Council on the Arts. MAAF for Organizations grantees: Adirondack Film, American Documentary, Aubin Pictures, Black Public Media, Buffalo International Film Festival, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Culture Hub, Educational Video Center, Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), Franklin Furnace Archives, Jacob Burns Film Center, Maysles Documentary Center, and Woodstock Film Festival.

The Media Arts Assistance Fund (MAAF) supports electronic media and film organizations, as well as individual artists, in all regions of New York State. For organizations, MAAF provides funds to support technical strategies for online development as well as to hire outside consultants to support organizational and professional development. MAAF prioritizes organizations that have missions specific to the media arts or dedicate the majority of their programming to technology as an art form. Multi-disciplinary organizations are considered on a case-by-case basis. All applicants must be current NYSCA grantees. Organizations are eligible to receive a maximum of $2,500 for each application opportunity. The biannual application deadlines are May 1 and October 1.

SPRING 2024 GRANTEES AND PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

Adirondack Film (Essex County) - Strengthening Funding for Adirondack Film

Adirondack Film will use MAAF funding to support their organizational development. Through the engagement of two consulting firms working in collaboration, ADK Film seeks to identify and implement a strategic fundraising plan to strengthen their outreach and bolster program funding.

American Documentary (New York County) - Strategic Development and Human Resources

MAAF funding will support strategic development planning for American Documentary. Consultants will work directly with AmDoc’s External Affairs department, including their Marketing/Communications and Development teams, to create an 18-month development plan, define inter-departmental goals, craft key messaging and collateral for funders, and additional initiatives.

Aubin Pictures (New York County) - Impact Consultant for Organizational Development

Aubin Pictures will use MAAF funding to engage a consultant who will help guide the organization’s approach to sharing the impact of their past work and prepare new film impact campaigns. The consultant will also train staff members in order to help build their skills in this area.

Black Public Media (New York County) - Staff Consultant

Black Public Media will use MAAF funding to engage a consultant to evaluate and assess the organization’s current capacity, and identify opportunities for improved efficiencies and appropriate staffing. BPM will work with the consultant to assess the organization's programs and services, meet with staff to discuss their job duties, and facilitate a two-day workshop on organizational planning.

Buffalo International Film Festival (Erie County) - 2025-2027 Strategic Plan

Buffalo International Film Festival will use MAAF funds to engage an experienced strategic planning consultant who will meet with board and staff to assess and analyze organizational operations, infrastructure, programs, impacts, and goals. A three-year Strategic Plan will be created as a roadmap to sustainably guide organizational growth by strengthening BIFF's infrastructure and mission-driven programming and deepening engagement with and support for the communities that BIFF serves.

Chicken & Egg Pictures (Kings County) - Online AlumNest community platform

MAAF funding will support the development of AlumNest – Chicken & Egg Pictures’ online communication platform for their nearly 500 currently and previously supported filmmakers. The platform will enable their global filmmaker community to connect through curated groups, share resources, and plan virtual meetings. Funding will support the organization’s use of the Mighty Networks platform.

CultureHub (New York County) - Releasing LiveLab Broadcaster

MAAF funding will provide support for the public release of LiveLab Broadcaster, an open-source, browser-based tool for interactive streaming, which CultureHub will offer without charge. CultureHub will hire a creative coder to develop documentation, host workshops, and create demos that will support the wide release of this tool in the summer of 2024.

Educational Video Center (New York County) - Equitable Human Resources at EVC

Educational Video Center will use MAAF funding to hire an outside consultant to provide HR expertise in support of their staff. The consultant will work with EVC to review their existing HR manual and processes, resulting in a written report with recommendations for improvement. The consultant will additionally offer training sessions for the organization’s younger staff members.

Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) (New York County) - EAI Digital Storage Consultancy

To guide a long-term strategy and future fundraising efforts for their multimedia archive, EAI will use MAAF funding to engage an experienced consultant to audit the current digital storage strategy and make recommendations for a long-range plan to support EAI’s archiving and preservation services into the future.

Franklin Furnace Archive (Kings County) - Online Event Database Upgrade

MAAF funding will support Franklin Furnace Archives’ engagement of a consultant to design and build a new public portal for its Online Event Archives Database in an effort to make their archives more accessible to scholars and art enthusiasts using FF’s art historical records.

Jacob Burns Film Center (Westchester County) - Development Audit

Jacob Burns Film Center will use MAAF funding to engage a consultant to develop a comprehensive development and campaign readiness assessment following the Center’s recently completed strategic plan. A thorough development assessment will fully examine current fundraising efforts and make recommendations as to how these efforts might be optimized to support organizational growth.

Maysles Documentary Center (New York County) - Funding for Development Consultant

MAAF funding will support the engagement of a consultant to help Maysles Documentary Center build a long-term fundraising strategy. The consultant will design a strategy to build and strengthen relationships with family foundations and private donors, improve grassroots fundraising through membership and direct initiatives, and optimize annual gala planning.

Woodstock Film Festival (Ulster County) - Data Management Operations

Woodstock Film Festival will use MAAF funding to hire a certified data management consultant to train staff to maximize the potential of their project management software. WFF aims to improve staff’s understanding of this software to enhance operations and use the platform to its full potential.

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About the New York State Council on the Arts The mission of the New York State Council on the Arts is to foster and advance the full breadth of New York State’s arts, culture, and creativity for all. To support the ongoing recovery of the arts across New York State, the Council on the Arts will award $162 million in FY2025, serving organizations and artists across all 10 state regions. The Council on the Arts further advances New York's creative culture by convening leaders in the field and providing organizational and professional development opportunities and informational resources. Created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1960 and continued with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, the Council is an agency that is part of the Executive Branch. For more information on NYSCA, please visit www.arts.ny.gov, and follow NYSCA's Facebook page, on X @NYSCArts and Instagram @NYSCouncilontheArts.

About Wave Farm Wave Farm is an international transmission arts organization driven by experimentation with the electromagnetic spectrum. We cultivate creative practices in radio and support artists and nonprofits in their cultural endeavors.

Based in New York’s Upper Hudson Valley, Wave Farm is a media arts center, media platform, and arts service organization. Wave Farm offers interdisciplinary outdoor installations, residencies and fellowships, and a research library. We operate FM radio station WGXC and host many online radio channels. Wave Farm provides fiscal sponsorship, consultation, and grants to artists and organizations. For more information, please visit https://wavefarm.org

For more information about the The New York State Council on the Arts Regrant Programs with Wave Farm visit https://wavefarm.org/grants-services/nysca-regrants.