Artist Accelerator
Artist
Accelerator
The Artist Accelerator Program at Sundance Institute was launched in 2021 to address the shifting realities of independent storytelling and meet artists’ needs in a changing creative and economic landscape. With an artist-first approach, the program provides crucial financial, creative, and tactical support to emerging and mid-career storytellers navigating a fragmented and competitive field.
To date, the Program has supported over 200 artists across various artist support initiatives, including yearlong fellowships and project advancement and completion grants. The Program’s fellowships offer non-recoupable grants, individualized mentorship, and a deep sense of community. In addition to fellowships, the program offers project completion grants to support the creation of meaningful, visionary work that might otherwise go unfinished.
Beyond individual support, the Artist Accelerator Program drives field-wide impact by collaborating with peer artist support organizations, public agencies, and grassroots collectives to expand access, equity, and sustainability across the independent storytelling ecosystem.
Year-Round Artist Fellowships
The Artist Accelerator Program offers year-long opportunities for artists to build community, receive bespoke project support, access funding, and grow professionally.
Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Fellowship and Scholarship
Launched in 2022, the Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) Fellowship and Scholarship is a year-round initiative designed to support 12 Asian American artists. The Program’s goal is to positively impact Asian American representation in independent media, strengthen connections to other organizations working in the space, and foster opportunities for artists to connect with like-minded creatives for network development. The program features two tracks: a Fellowship offering continued support to Sundance Institute-affiliated artists and a Scholarship that brings a new cohort of Asian American creators into the Sundance Institute Artist support pathway.
The TAAF Fellowship and Scholarship was launched with foundational support from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) and the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Building Bridges Artist Fellowship
Launched in 2024 and conducted in collaboration with the Islamic Scholarship Fund (ISF), the Building Bridges Artist Fellowship provides financial and creative resources, mentorship, and support to artists focused on U.S. Muslim narratives. The Building Bridges Fellowship provides selected Fellows with a $10,000 unrestricted grant, professional development opportunities, and other benefits in line with other Artist Accelerator fellowships.
The Building Bridges Artist Fellowship is developed with support from the Doris Duke Foundation.
Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Artist Fellowship
Launched in 2023, the Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Artist Fellowship is a year-round initiative designed to offer pivotal career and artist-focused support to a select group of filmmakers. A primary goal of this initiative is to position these artists for potential work within the Walt Disney Studios system. Key features of the Fellowship include a non-recoupable artist grant, mentorship from an established artist or industry professional, networking opportunities with creative executives from across Walt Disney Studios’ umbrella of brands, and a specially curated experience at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Artist Fellowship is developed with support from the Walt Disney Studios.
Sundance Institute AI Creators Fellowship
The year-long Sundance Institute AI Creators Fellowship, launching in 2026, will support up to 12 media artists over three years in exploring the intersection of art and AI as they work on a new project using AI as a core element. This initiative also aims to improve AI literacy among Sundance Institute staff through participation in discussions and events.
The Sundance Institute AI Creators Fellowship is developed with support from Google.org, the philanthropy of Google.
Artist Accelerator Funds
Artist Accelerator Program provides non-recoupable grants for projects which have been previously supported by a Sundance Institute Program as well as projects that have no previous Sundance Institute engagement. Each fund prioritizes projects where grants would have the most impact and be catalytic to the project reaching its next step.
Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Project Advancement and Completion Fund
Launched in 2023, the Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Project Advancement and Completion Fund provides $25,000 in unrestricted grants to directors working across a variety of genres in the feature fiction space. This fund supports projects in need of critical development financing, as well as urgent need in advancing projects forward in a meaningful way.
The Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Project Advancement and Completion Fund is developed with support from The Walt Disney Studios.
Sundance Institute | Building Bridges Completion Fund
Launched in 2024, Sundance Institute | Building Bridges Completion Fund offers grants of up to $25,000 to U.S.-based directors, writers, and producers whose feature films, short films, or episodic projects amplify the universality and distinctiveness of U.S. Muslim narratives. The Building Bridges Fund offers a lifeline to filmmakers during the high-pressure window between festival acceptance and premiere. By providing either a Post-Production grant or an Impact Campaign grant, the fund helps artists maximize their festival experience and build sustainable strategies for distribution.
The Sundance Institute | Building Bridges Completion Fund is developed with support from the Doris Duke Foundation.
Past Artist Accelerator Initiatives
- Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve® (2025)
- Sundance Institute | One House Filmmakers Fund (2024)
- Sundance Institute Humanities Sustainability Fellowship (2022)
- Sundance Institute Completion Fund in partnership with Zions Bank
- Sundance Institute | Stars Collective Granting Fund
Field Advocacy
The Artist Accelerator Program engages in field advocacy and leadership through partnerships and collaborations with artist support organizations, government agencies, and artist collectives.
AI Literacy Alliance
Artist Accelerator is a key partner with Sundance Collab in leading the AI Literacy Alliance, which serves as a central component of the Sundance Institute AI Literacy Initiative. The Alliance’s purpose is to unite a strong and diverse coalition of cultural innovators from across the industry to advance AI literacy, guide the industry discourse, and help establish ethical frameworks and values that safeguard human creativity, artists, and the wider creative sector.
The Nonfiction Core Application Proposal Checklist
The Nonfiction Core Application (v.2024) is a collaborative field-wide effort by funders, producers, fiscal sponsors, artist collectives, and artist support organizations to standardize a set of questions that are used in non-fiction funding, fiscal sponsor, or artist support opportunities. Led by Sundance Institute, in partnership with the International Documentary Association (IDA), the goal of Nonfiction Core Application Proposal Checklist Initiative to alleviate the burden of proposal re-writing on applicants, foster greater access to sources of creative and financial support, and build toward a more equitable and transparent nonfiction field.
The Impact Application Checklist
The Impact Application Checklist, developed in partnership with the Global Impact Producers Alliance (GIPA), is designed to standardize application questions for impact funding, and reduce the burden of application writing on filmmakers by offering funders a standardized and structured approach to asking impact-focused questions. Impact storytelling is crucial, not just for awareness but for real-world change, and the Impact Application Checklist ensures that funders and filmmakers have a shared framework to facilitate that work.
Past Field Advocacy Projects
- Partnership with FEMA’s Resilient Nation Partnership Network (RNPN): The Artist Accelerator Program partnered with FEMA’s Resilient Nation Partnership Network (RNPN) for its eighth forum, “Stories of Resilience: Voices That Inspire.” The Forum featured robust panel discussions on resilience challenges and how we can act together to address them by using storytelling to advance action toward natural hazard resilience. More information on this partnership can be found here.
Featured Projects
HOT WATER
Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Project Advancement and Completion Fund
JARIPEO
Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve®
THEYDREAM
Sundance Institute | Humanities Sustainability Fellowship
DÌDI (弟弟)
Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Fellowship
Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Company Project Advancement & Completion Fund
AMERICAN DOCTOR
Sundance Institute | Building Bridges Completion Fund
FANCY DANCE
Sundance Institute | Zions Bank Project Advancement & Completion Fund
WHO KILLED ALEX ODEH?
Sundance Institute | Building Bridges Completion Fund
AANIKOOBIJIGAN
Sundance Institute Humanities Sustainability Fellowship
DÌDI (弟弟)
The Sundance Institute | The Asian American Foundation Fellowship
The Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Company Project Advancement & Completion Fund
THE STARLING GIRL
The Sundance Institute | Zions Bank Project Advancement & Completion Fund
FANCY DANCE
The Sundance Institute | Zions Bank Project Advancement & Completion Fund
TODAS LAS FLORES
The Sundance Institute Humanities Sustainability Fellowship
Yusuf Ahmed
Fatimah Asghar
Roni Jo Draper, Ph.D., is a member of the Yurok tribe, from the village of Weitchpec on the Klamath River. Her experience as a queer Yurok woman has influenced her work as a teacher, scholar, and artist. Draper explores storytelling practices as a way to understand humanity.
Marissa Lila Kongao is a multicultural documentarian and psychedelic healer who was raised in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Their work as a director and producer for film and television centers marginalized perspectives who use storytelling to heal.
Cris Gris is a Mexican filmmaker whose work has screened at Berlinale, Cannes, and Morelia (Special Jury Award). A Sundance Institute and Film Independent Fellow, she’s directed for HBO Max’s Vgly, ViX’s She Walks Alone, and Amazon Prime Video’s Cometierra (Eartheater).
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs is an award-winning actor, writer, and filmmaker, mainly known for her work in the groundbreaking series Reservation Dogs. Jacobs is currently writing her debut feature film, High Steel, which was selected as part of the 2025 Sundance Institute Directors Lab.
Masami Kawai is a Los Angeles–born filmmaker who lives in Eugene, Oregon. She’s of Ryukyuan descent from the island of Amami. Her work integrates issues of race, Indigeneity, class, and what it means to be an immigrant/settler in the United States.
Mackie Mallison is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn, New York. He is a Sundance Institute fellow, Film at Lincoln Center fellow, and one of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.” Mallison’s short films have screened at SXSW, NYFF, Palm Springs, and BFI and were acquired by The Criterion Channel.
Efraín Mojica is a photographer, filmmaker, and performance artist from Michoacán whose work has shown in galleries internationally. Their filmmaking is heavily influenced by their work as a conceptual artist, which explores the translation and interpolation of light, sound, and matter.
Rebecca Zweig is a filmmaker, journalist, and poet based in Mexico City. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Nation, and Nexos, among others. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and her filmmaking is shaped by her poetic practice.
Steve Pargett is a producer and creative strategist known for powerful, community-driven storytelling. His work spans film, design, and social impact, amplifying underrepresented voices and using creativity to challenge perceptions and inspire change.
Huda Razzak is an animation filmmaker based in Atlanta whose parents immigrated from Iraq. In 2022, her short film The Ocean Duck won the Oscar-qualifying Jury Award for Best Animated Short at NYICFF. Razzak has also produced and directed content for Sesame Street and recently worked in production at Netflix Animation.
Walter Thompson-Hernández wrote and directed the short film If I Go Will They Miss Me (2022 Sundance Film Festival), which was awarded the Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction presented by XRM Media. He recently developed the feature-length adaptation with the support of the Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. 
Amber Fares
Alireza Khatami
LaTajh Simmons-Weaver
Humza Syed
April Maxey
John Sutter
Angela Tucker
Jing Wang
Walé Oyéjidé
Otilia Portillo Padua
Shrihari Sathe
Julie Wyman
Nicole Docta
Masami Kawai
Courtney Loo
Jess dela Merced
Jing Wang
Emily Yue
Daniel Chein
Justin Kim
Naomi Ko
Tee Park
Urvashi Pathania
Vera Brunner-Sung
Desdemona Chiang
Shayok Misha Chowdhury
Tadashi Nakamura
Neo Sora
Sean Wang
Ethan Newmyer 
Miles Orduña
Betsy Tsai 
Quang Nong
Simi Prasad
