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: SFFILM
    amount: $467,500
    city: San Francisco, CA
    year: 2021

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

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Anne Lai

    This grant provides continuing support for a series of activities by SFFILM, the organization that hosts the annual SFFILM Festival, to nurture, develop, and champion films that explore scientific or technological themes and characters. Supported activities include the awarding of two $35,000 Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowships each year to promising feature film or episodic screenwriters who are exploring scientific or technological themes in their work. SFFILM also gives an annual award, the Sloan Science in Cinema Prize, to the best science-themed feature film submitted to the San Francisco Film Festival and promotes the winning film at the festival with a ceremony, screening, post-screening panel, and reception. SFFILM compiles the Sloan Stories of Science Sourcebook, which includes the best science stories and the most up-to-date scientific discoveries of the year and offers awards to two filmmakers who can develop original scripts based on these stories or ideas. Lastly, SFFILM partners with the Black List to identify promising science-themed scripts and bring them to the attention of developers, producers, and other film industry executives. Grant funds support these activities and associated operational costs for the next two years.

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

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  • grantee: Carnegie Mellon University
    amount: $286,551
    city: Pittsburgh, PA
    year: 2021

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Robert Handel

    This grant provides three additional years of support for a program at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (CMU) that exposes top dramatic writing students to science and technology and awards prizes to student screenwriters who write science- or technology-themed scripts. The CMU program includes a fall symposium that brings scientists to the drama school to introduce students to recent developments in a variety of scientific disciplines; a year-long screenwriting workshop that meets weekly and focuses on the challenges and opportunities posed by incorporating science into dramatic or comedic narratives, a mentorship program that pairs film students with working scientists to help them depict science accurately in their work, an annual screenwriting competition that awards $45,000 total per year to the three best science-themed scripts submitted, and a yearly showcase in Los Angeles and New York to bring student filmmakers into contact with leading producers, directors, and distributors in the film and television industry.

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

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  • grantee: Sundance Institute
    amount: $500,000
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2021

    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

    The Sundance Film Institute hosts the Sundance Film Festival, the largest and most prestigious showcase of independent cinema in the U.S.  First held in 1978, the festival remains the first choice for both emerging and established independent filmmakers to premiere their work and an offers an unrivaled venue to showcase innovative filmmaking at the intersection of science and cinema. This grant supports a suite of awards and activities each year that have resulted in a widely recognized and fruitful 20-year partnership: the Sloan Commissioning Grant; the Sloan Episodic Fellowship; the Sloan Development Fellowship; the annual Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize (one of only six juried prizes at the Festival); a high-profile panel discussion with scientists and filmmakers; and a reception celebrating the Sloan winners at the Festival.

    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: Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation
    amount: $763,100
    city: Brookline, MA
    year: 2021

    To sustain and expand the national Science on Screen program

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Katherine Tallman

    The Coolidge Corner Theatre is an independent cinema in Brookline, Massachusetts specializing in international, documentary, animated, and independent film selections. The Coolidge is also the leader of Science on Screen, a nationwide network of independent cinemas 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, informative, and entirely fun entree into the relationship between science and film. Previous events used the zombie classic Night of the Living Dead as a springboard to discuss the role of the amygdala in cognitive processes and a screening of Fight Club as the beginning of the discussion of the roots of aggression. Grant funds will allow the Coolidge to make grants to 56 local theatres, bringing the total number of independent cinema houses that have participated in Science on Screen to well over 100. In addition, the Coolidge will promote the series through a new digital newsletter, a video for the National Week of Science on Screen, partnerships and sponsorships, and online marketing efforts.

    To sustain and expand the national Science on Screen program

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  • grantee: Women Make Movies, Inc.
    amount: $250,000
    city: New York, NY
    year: 2021

    To support the production of a feature length documentary about the ethical and societal implications of neurotechnology and AI

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Debra Zimmerman

    To support the production of a feature length documentary about the ethical and societal implications of neurotechnology and AI

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  • grantee: Academy Foundation
    amount: $450,000
    city: Beverly Hills, CA
    year: 2021

    To support film screenings, filmmaker discussions, and public programs focused on science and the science and technology of motion pictures

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Jacqueline Stewart

    This grant supports science and technology programming at the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Foundation-supported programming will include screenings of Oscar nominated and winning films focused on science and scientists, a selection of talks and panel discussions with filmmakers and scientists, and an exhibit exploring the accomplishments of six Black visual effects artists. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, host of the Academy Awards and a membership organization for preeminent film professionals, is opening this new museum in Los Angeles as the definitive showcase devoted to the art, science, and myriad creators of cinema. It will occupy 300,000 square feet across two buildings, including six floors of exhibition galleries and public spaces and two theaters, and will reach an estimated 600,000 visitors in its first year.

    To support film screenings, filmmaker discussions, and public programs focused on science and the science and technology of motion pictures

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  • grantee: University of California, Los Angeles
    amount: $356,868
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2021

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Brian Kite

    This grant provides three years of renewed support to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), for a series of activities, programs, and initiatives designed to encourage UCLA film students to engage with scientific and technological themes in their filmmaking and to produce science-themed films and screenplays. UCLA’s Sloan Foundation-supported activities include four annual prizes: a $30,000 production award; two $15,000 screenwriting awards; and a $15,000 episodic television award, as well as an annual colloquium that brings film students together with leading researchers to discuss the newest developments in science and technology. This grant also provides funds for dedicated scientific advisors to help students with their projects, independent judges to evaluate student submission, and faculty support and other operational costs associated with administration of the program.

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

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  • grantee: American Film Institute
    amount: $375,000
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2021

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Tom Engfer

    This grant provides three years of continued support to the American Film Institute’s (AFI) efforts to encourage young screenwriters and filmmakers to write and produce compelling narrative films that explore scientific themes or have scientists, engineers, or mathematicians as major characters. AFI’s Sloan Foundation-supported activities include four annual prizes: a $25,000 production award; a $20,000 annual screenwriting award; a $25,000 development award; and a $45,000 tuition award. In addition, AFI holds a seminar series where established actors, writers, directors, and producers talk to students about science and Hollywood, and provides access to working scientists to serve as mentors on student scripts.

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

    More
  • grantee: Utah Film Center on behalf of PSF C19 LLC
    amount: $365,000
    city: Salt Lake City, UT
    year: 2021

    To support a feature-length documentary film about the global race to research, develop, and distribute the COVID-19 vaccines

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Patrick Hubley

    To support a feature-length documentary film about the global race to research, develop, and distribute the COVID-19 vaccines

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  • grantee: University of Southern California
    amount: $417,923
    city: Los Angeles, CA
    year: 2021

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

    • Program Public Understanding
    • Sub-program Film
    • Investigator Alan Baker

    To support the development and production of science and technology films, television, and new media projects by top film students

    More
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