Over the previous five parts, we’ve gone from asking what our cinema-support organizations say they are here to do, to identifying the Missing Middle, considering who might build what next, and proposing some better operating practices for NonDē.
There’s still something we haven’t done, though: put our support organizations next to one another and see who has actually claimed which parts of our ecosystem.
I started with 25, expanded it to 30, and then—well, you know how these things go. We’re now at 74 organizations, ranging from Sundance and Film Independent to The Film Collaborative, Color Congress, IndieCollect, Distribution Advocates, regional production coalitions, and many more. Some support artists, some audiences, some exhibitors, some particular communities, and some increasingly work on the underlying system itself.
This is not a ranking, friends, and it certainly is not an attempt to ding anyone for failing to do something they never promised to do. I’m interested in our collective coverage. Where are we strong? Where are we duplicating effort? Where might better bridges produce greater benefit? And where can we still scan the landscape and wonder: Wait, who has that?
If we’re serious about building NonDē, that seems like information worth having—and sharing.
What Do Our Organizations Say They Are Here To Do?
I’ve condensed the mission or stated purpose of each organization rather than burying you in institutional prose. Follow the links if you want the fuller language, and please engage with the distinctions: what an organization says it exists to do matters, but so does what it has actually built around that mission. I used ChatGPT to help build this, btw.
I’ve also added an organizational-status designation. Most of this support ecosystem is nonprofit, but not all of it. SXSW and Tribeca are for-profit; LEF is a private foundation; several regional production groups are trade or business associations; and a few entries are collectives, professional communities, initiatives, or academic institutions. That distinction turns out to be useful information too. I’ve now added Based in and Primary reach as well, because where infrastructure accumulates is part of the ecosystem story.
74 American Film Organizations and Missions / Stated Purposes
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