Grants Database

The Foundation awards approximately 200 grants per year (excluding the Sloan Research Fellowships), totaling roughly $80 million dollars in annual commitments in support of research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics. This database contains grants for currently operating programs going back to 2008. For grants from prior years and for now-completed programs, see the annual reports section of this website.

Grants Database

Grantee
Amount
City
Year
  • grantee: AfterImage Public Media
    amount: $250,000
    city: San Francisco, CA
    year: 2023

    To support the post-production of an all-archival, feature length documentary about climate change and its shift from scientific phenomenon to political battleground

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Justine Nagan

    To support the post-production of an all-archival, feature length documentary about climate change and its shift from scientific phenomenon to political battleground

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  • grantee: SFFILM
    amount: $479,616
    city: San Francisco, CA
    year: 2023

    To nurture, develop, and champion films that explore scientific or technological themes and characters

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Lynda Sanjurjo-Rutter

    Each year SFFILM awards two feature film prizes to recognize excellence in science-themed filmmaking: the $20K Sloan Science in Cinema Prize which is awarded in December in advance of the Academy Awards; and a second, Science on Screen award, given out at its April film festival, which includes screenings and panels with scientists.  SFFILM also supports two screenwriters a year with a fellowship that includes a cash award, residency and mentorship by filmmakers and scientists. SFFILM also compiles an annual list of the ten best discoveries in science and gives a prize to two filmmakers to develop one discovery into a screenplay.

    To nurture, develop, and champion films that explore scientific or technological themes and characters

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  • grantee: National Academy of Sciences
    amount: $299,285
    city: Washington, DC
    year: 2023

    To sustain the Science and Entertainment Exchange and the role of science and science consultants in Hollywood and to provide programming and science advisors for the Sloan Film Program

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Ann Merchant

    Launched by the National Academy of Sciences in 2008 with Sloan support, the Science and Entertainment Exchange (the Exchange), is an ongoing project to increase the quality of scientific content in American film and television through providing directors, producers, and other Hollywood executives with access to high quality consulting by real working scientists and researchers. Providing more than 250 consultations a year, the Exchange works to ensure accuracy when science is used in film and television, seeds new ideas within Hollywood by exposing creative and industry professionals to new scientific content, and acts as a well of professional advice across a wide range of scientific topics. This grant provides support for the Exchange for a period of three years and includes funds to continue the Exchange’s core work of providing science consultations, funds to expand and diversify the Exchange’s roster of science consultants, and funds for a series of in-person and online events showcasing women and Black, Indigenous and Latine scientists and engineers. 

    To sustain the Science and Entertainment Exchange and the role of science and science consultants in Hollywood and to provide programming and science advisors for the Sloan Film Program

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  • grantee: Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation
    amount: $789,500
    city: Brookline, MA
    year: 2023

    To sustain and expand the national Science on Screen program

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Beth Gilligan

    The Coolidge Corner Theatre is an independent cinema in Brookline, Massachusetts specializing in international, documentary, animated, and independent film selections. Since 2008, the Coolidge has been the Foundation’s partner for Sloan Science on Screen, a nationwide program to support independent cinemas — spread across 44 states and Washington DC — that invite scientific experts to screenings of popular or cult classic films to discuss with audiences the scientific or technological themes or issues the film raises. The series offers an unexpected and informative entree into the relationship between science and film, showing that any film can lend itself to intelligent analysis, as well as fun, when viewed through a scientific or technological lens. Sloan support will allow Coolidge to make grants to 70 participating theatres, bringing the total number of independent cinema houses that have participated in Science on Screen to more than 110.

    To sustain and expand the national Science on Screen program

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  • grantee: Sundance Institute
    amount: $600,000
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2023

    To support a science and technology film program at the nation's pre-eminent independent film center that includes screenwriting fellowships, feature film prizes, science and film panels, and associated outreach

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Michelle Satter

    To support a science and technology film program at the nation's pre-eminent independent film center that includes screenwriting fellowships, feature film prizes, science and film panels, and associated outreach

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  • grantee: Family Pictures Institute for Inclusive Storytelling
    amount: $250,000
    city: Greenwood Lake, NY
    year: 2023

    To support the production of My Mom, the Scientist, a 90-minute personal documentary about the challenge of recruiting more Black people into STEM

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Thomas Allen Harris

    To support the production of My Mom, the Scientist, a 90-minute personal documentary about the challenge of recruiting more Black people into STEM

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  • grantee: Film Independent, Inc.
    amount: $666,631
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2023

    To provide direct support to develop and distribute science and technology scripts, teleplays, and films

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Angela Lee

    This grant funds an awards program by Film Independent (FIND), producer of the Independent Spirit Awards, that aims to help produce and distribute feature films with scientific or technological themes, or those that feature scientists, engineers, technologists, inventors, or mathematicians as major characters. FIND makes several grants each year to achieve these aims: one producer a year is selected to develop a science-themed script in FIND’s Producing Lab with a $30,000 Producer’s grant and a reception and promotion around this project (the Lab accepts ten producers per year); one producer or producing team is selected per year for the Sloan Fast Track Fellowship with a $20,000 cash grant and invitation to the Fast Track film financing market (up to ten projects per year are selected); one outstanding episodic television writer is selected each year for a $20,000 grant to develop a science-themed series in FIND’s Episodic Lab; and one exceptional science-themed film is awarded a distribution grant of $50,000 to incentivize buyers to acquire an eligible film for distribution. In addition, FIND will host both an annual Sloan Salon with a science theme and 100 attendees and an annual Fellows Party with about 500 attendees to celebrate the growing film pipeline and link the Foundation to the wider filmmaking community.

    To provide direct support to develop and distribute science and technology scripts, teleplays, and films

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  • grantee: AfterImage Public Media
    amount: $250,000
    city: San Francisco, CA
    year: 2023

    To support the production of a feature-length documentary film The Roulette Project, about young physicists who built a wearable computer that could predict a game of roulette and went on to contribute to chaos theory and predictive modeling

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Julie Goldman

    To support the production of a feature-length documentary film The Roulette Project, about young physicists who built a wearable computer that could predict a game of roulette and went on to contribute to chaos theory and predictive modeling

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  • grantee: American Museum of the Moving Image
    amount: $279,854
    city: Astoria, NY
    year: 2023

    To support two years of the Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for the annual selection and development of the best-of-the-best screenplay from Sloan’s six film school partners and the Sloan Discovery Award selected from six non-Sloan film school screenplays

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Sonia Epstein

    This grant provides ongoing support to the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) to oversee the administration of the Sloan Grand Jury Prize and Sloan Student Discovery Award, two annual awards celebrating outstanding feature film screenplays that integrate scientific or technological themes or characters. The Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize selects an outstanding screenplay from the Foundation’s six film school partners (American Film Institute; UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television; Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama; Columbia University School of the Arts; NYU Tisch School of the Arts; and USC School of Cinematic Arts), while the Sloan Student Discovery Award selects the best screenplay from another six film schools at top public universities (Brooklyn College Feirstein School of Cinema; SUNY Purchase School of Film and Media Studies; Florida State University; University of Texas Austin; Temple University; and the University of Michigan). Both prizes support the careers of diverse, emerging filmmakers interested in science and technology as they transition out of graduate school and into the film industry. In addition to a $20,000 cash prize, the winners will each receive industry exposure, feedback, and year-round science and film industry mentorship. Grant funds will allow MoMI to continue hosting the awards for two more years.

    To support two years of the Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for the annual selection and development of the best-of-the-best screenplay from Sloan’s six film school partners and the Sloan Discovery Award selected from six non-Sloan film school screenplays

    More
  • grantee: Toronto International Film Festival
    amount: $508,112
    city: Toronto, Canada, Canada
    year: 2023

    To support two years of a science and technology film program at the Toronto International Film Festival, including feature film prizes, screenwriting fellowships, project pitches for filmmakers, science and film panels, and associated outreach

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Anita Lee

    To support two years of a science and technology film program at the Toronto International Film Festival, including feature film prizes, screenwriting fellowships, project pitches for filmmakers, science and film panels, and associated outreach

    More
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