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: International Documentary Association
    amount: $50,000
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2017

    To support a documentary on artificial intelligence and the development of a CameraBot device that will function autonomously as the director and cameraman

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Amy Halpin

    To support a documentary on artificial intelligence and the development of a CameraBot device that will function autonomously as the director and cameraman

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  • grantee: National Academy of Sciences
    amount: $500,000
    city: Washington, DC
    year: 2017

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

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

    The Science and Entertainment Exchange was launched by the National Academy of Sciences in 2008 to pair members of the science community with the entertainment industry. The Exchange works to ensure accuracy when science is used in film, tries to seed new ideas within the film and television industry by exposing them to new content, and acts as a resource of professional science advice, including to Sloan’s myriad film partners. This grant funds a series of activities by the Exchange to bolster scientific representation in Hollywood films and television, increase the diversity of its science consultants, and strengthen ties with the Sloan Film program. Grant funds will support the Exchange as it provides science consultants to the film and television community and to Sloan filmmakers on some 300 television and film projects per year. Additional funds will support efforts to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities in the Exchange’s scientist database and on efforts to include Sloan-supported filmmakers in their Exchange events and outreach.

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

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  • grantee: Film Independent, Inc.
    amount: $398,668
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2017

    As support for the triennial Sloan Film Summit: a three-day event of screenings, panels, staged readings, project updates, networking opportunities, and community building for Sloan film grantees

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Maria Bozzi

    This grant provides funds to Film Independent (FIND) to organize and host the 2017 Sloan Film Summit, the major convening of all Sloan film grantees held every three years. The summit offers a rare opportunity for interaction and networking between students, faculty, and administrators from the Foundation’s six film schools; filmmakers and staff from the five screenplay development and film festival partners; and Sloan grantees at Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), Coolidge Corner Theatre, and the Science and Entertainment Exchange. 150 Sloan grantees are expected to attend. The three-day summit will open with a Friday night film screening on the theme of women and science, followed by an opening dinner. Saturday morning will feature Sloan award recipient updates as well as case studies with filmmakers and scientist collaborators. In the afternoon, there will be a networking lunch that connects filmmakers with scientists, followed by an industry connect program allowing filmmakers to meet with agents, casting directors, distributors, and other industry representatives. During this time, representatives from all of Sloan’s film partners will meet with Sloan program staff to share experiences and discuss best practices. Later, breakout sessions involving the latest in virtual reality will be followed by a special evening event. Sunday will open with a science and storytelling keynote from a prominent member of the film or television industry. After the keynote, there will be staged readings of excerpts from Sloan-winning screenplays for an industry audience. The summit will conclude with a showcase of Sloan-supported feature films, including one completed feature and sneak previews of upcoming features. Grant funds support administrative costs associated with hosting the event, along with associated publicity and outreach in print and social media.

    As support for the triennial Sloan Film Summit: a three-day event of screenings, panels, staged readings, project updates, networking opportunities, and community building for Sloan film grantees

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  • grantee: Film Independent, Inc.
    amount: $699,236
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2017

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

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Jennifer Kushner

    This grant continues a Sloan Foundation partnership with Film Independent (FIND), producer of the Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, to support filmmakers and television writers who explore scientific or technical themes in their work or create films that feature scientists, engineers, technologists, or mathematicians as major characters. The FIND program includes a host of interrelated and mutually supportive activities that promote this goal. FIND selects one producer per year 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; award one producer or producing team per year a Sloan Fast Track Fellowship with a $20,000 grant and invitation to the Fast Track film financing market; select one outstanding episodic television writer per year and award him or her with a $10,000 grant to develop a science-themed series in FIND’s new Episodic Lab; and award two distribution grants of $50,000 each to an exceptional science-themed film to incentivize buyers to acquire it for distribution. Grant funds will support these awards and associated administration and outreach costs for the next three years.

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

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  • grantee: Tribeca Film Institute
    amount: $216,320
    city: New York, NY
    year: 2016

    To support 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

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Anna Ponder

    Funds from this grant to the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) support two years of the Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize, an annual prize awarded to the single best science-themed student screenplay produced by a student at one of the Foundation’s six film school partners. The award package is $50,000 per year, of which $30,000 goes directly to the student filmmaker. The balance of the award funds support a noted industry mentor to guide the project, a committed science advisor, and other marketing and distribution efforts to maximize the screenplay’s chances of production. The aim of this effort is to stimulate greater interest and excitement among the six participating film schools and film students by awarding a “best of the best” prize and fast-tracking the winning project for development so it becomes a major career opportunity. The Student Grand Jury Prize offers enhanced visibility, prestige, and a career boost to the student winner working on a science-themed script and fosters healthy competition within the film school program.

    To support 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

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  • grantee: New York University
    amount: $484,596
    city: New York, NY
    year: 2016

    For an annual feature film production grant over three years to enable film students to shoot a first feature film about science and technology

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Michael Burke

    This grant supports an initiative at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (NYU Tisch) to incentivize the creation of feature films about science and technology through an annual award of $100,000 given to help an outstanding science-themed student film project move to production. Each year a distinguished committee of filmmakers and scientists from NYU’s Kanbar Institute of Film and Television will publicize the award among students and accept and evaluate film treatments. Filmmakers selected as semifinalists receive a $5,000 award to produce their script and are connected with an expert scholar to serve as a mentor and to ensure the accuracy of the scientific work and characters presented. The winning filmmaker from among the semifinalists will receive $100,000 to be used to move the script into production. Scripts are eligible only if they explore scientific or technological themes or employ scientists, mathematicians, or engineers as major characters. In addition, NYU holds an annual reception for the winner and engages in media outreach to publicize the awards. Grant funds provide core operating support for this awards program for three years.

    For an annual feature film production grant over three years to enable film students to shoot a first feature film about science and technology

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  • grantee: Women Make Movies, Inc.
    amount: $47,770
    city: New York, NY
    year: 2016

    To support a pilot project to track what happened to scripts that won Sloan awards, to track the careers of Sloan award winners, and to track the careers of students in the Sloan programs who sought awards, but did not receive them

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Barbara Ghammashi

    To support a pilot project to track what happened to scripts that won Sloan awards, to track the careers of Sloan award winners, and to track the careers of students in the Sloan programs who sought awards, but did not receive them

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  • grantee: American Museum of the Moving Image
    amount: $399,824
    city: Astoria, NY
    year: 2016

    To maintain and develop the comprehensive, up-to-date, go-to site for the nationwide Sloan Film program, its participating partners and 500+ film projects and to add a Sloan Film Channel

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Carl Goodman

    This grant provides three years of support to the American Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) to maintain and develop its Sloan Science and Film website, the most up-to-date and comprehensive resource for information about film projects supported through the Foundation’s Film program. Funds will support a site redesign that will streamline the user interface and upgrade accessibility on mobile phones, the development of a new content management system, the creation of a Sloan Film Channel, and the hiring of a full-time managing editor who will be responsible for a host of activities, including producing audio and visual content; writing and posting articles; organizing public Science and Film events; commissioning critics and scientists to contribute to the site; liaising with Sloan film partners and with filmmakers and scientists; and promoting site content on social media.

    To maintain and develop the comprehensive, up-to-date, go-to site for the nationwide Sloan Film program, its participating partners and 500+ film projects and to add a Sloan Film Channel

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  • grantee: Columbia University
    amount: $289,541
    city: New York, NY
    year: 2016

    To encourage the next generation of filmmakers to write screenplays and produce short films about science and technology through enhanced research, mentorship, and award opportunities

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Trey Ellis

    This grant continues support for a program at Columbia University that aims to encourage the next generation of filmmakers to write screenplays and produce short films about science and technology. Supported activities include two annual $10,000 awards given to the best student screenplay with a scientific or technological theme; two $20,000 production awards to help produce a science-themed film project; a student mentoring program and an annual information session and panel discussion introducing students to  the program offerings and to working scientists; and off-campus learning activities that expose student filmmakers to the process of scientific inquiry and cutting-edge developments in modern science. Grant funds provide support for these and related activities for three years.

    To encourage the next generation of filmmakers to write screenplays and produce short films about science and technology through enhanced research, mentorship, and award opportunities

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  • grantee: San Francisco Film Society
    amount: $417,500
    city: San Francisco, CA
    year: 2015

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

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Noah Cowan

    This grant provides two years of funding for a series of initiatives by SSFILM to support and nurture films and filmmakers that tackle scientific or technological themes or feature scientists, mathematicians, or engineers as major characters. Three distinct but interrelated activities are supported. The first is a filmmaker fund for screenwriters working on science and technology films, with one winning screenwriter the first year and two in the second. Each filmmaker will receive a $35,000 grant and a two-month residency at the Film House, SSFILMS’s newly built artist residency facility. In addition to residency, supported screenwriters will have their work presented in staged readings both at the Festival and at other events around the country. Second, SSFILM will host an annual film prize for the best science- or technology-themed film submitted. Selected by an independent panel of filmmakers and scientists, the winning film will be announced in December at a high-profile screening event aimed at attracting critical notice. Third, SFFILMwill partner with The Black List, an influential annual industry survey of the best unproduced screenplays, to send a Sloan-supported screenwriter to its coveted annual screenwriting workshop. The collection of activities represents an exciting new partnership for the Sloan Film Festival program, which builds bridges between the film industry and Silicon Valley’s active and energetic science and technology culture.

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

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