Artist Accelerator
Artist Accelerator
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 through yearlong fellowships that 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. These opportunities are made possible through strategic partnerships with visionary funders including The Walt Disney Company, Gold House, the Doris Duke Foundation, and Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
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.
Fellowship & Scholarship Programs
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.
Sundance Institute | Latine Fellowship and Scholarship
Launched in 2022, the Sundance Institute | Latine Fellowship and Scholarship provides 10 emerging Latine artists with professional development, opportunities to connect with like-minded creatives to develop and grow one’s network, and Collab Community packages.
The program aims to positively impact Latine representation in Sundance Institute programs and independent media. The Program consists of two strands: the Sundance Institute | Latine Fellowship and the Sundance Institute | Latine Scholarship.
Developed with funding support from Lyn Lear and Cindy Horn, and additional support from 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 provides a deep, year-round learning experience for a curated group of artists and positively impacts the film and television industry with new cohorts of artists ready for engagement and employment.
The Sundance Institute | The Walt Disney Studios Artist Fellowship is developed with support from the Walt Disney Studios .
Funding Opportunities
Artist Accelerator Program provides non-recoupable grants for projects which have been previously supported by a Sundance Institute Program (Feature Film Program, Documentary Film Program, Episodic Program, Ignite Program, Indigenous Program, and the Artist Accelerator Program). Each fund prioritizes projects where grants would have the most impact and be catalytic to the project reaching its next step.
The 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.
One House Filmmakers Fund
Launched in 2023, the One House Filmmakers Fund provides unrestricted non-recoupable grants to Multicultural and underserved artists working on feature length nonfiction or fiction projects around the globe. In addition to the financial support, grantees receive access to Artist Accelerator and Sundance ELEVATE programming.
The One House Filmmakers Fund is made possible through the generous support of Gold House.
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.
The Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Launching in 2025, the Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund sponsored by Chase Sapphire Reserve provides unrestricted, non-recoupable grants to artists working on feature-length nonfiction or fiction projects around the globe. The fund aligns with the Sundance Institute Artist Accelerator program’s mission of dismantling systemic barriers within the film industry by championing foundational artist development and sustainability. Grants are available for vital project advancement support throughout the lifecycle of the project and are awarded to artists from across Sundance Institute’s artist programs.
The Sundance Institute Filmmakers Fund is developed with support from Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Sundance Institute Completion Fund
The Sundance Institute Completion Fund in partnership with Zions Bank provides unrestricted grants to BIPOC and Women filmmakers working across fiction and nonfiction. Applicants must be planning to premiere their film in the first six (6) months of the calendar year to be eligible. Selections are by invitation only and open to nominated candidates that are receiving support via an Institute Program.
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.
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.
Featured Projects
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
To read more about artists supported previously by the Artist Accelerator Program, see below:
To read more about artists we have supported previously, see below:
Yusuf Ahmed
Fatimah Asghar
April Maxey
John Sutter
Angela Tucker
Jing Wang
Walé Oyéjidé
Otilia Portillo Padua
Shrihari Sathe
Julie Wyman
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
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
