We made significant strides this year to address ADEI issues in our Documentary Exploration Grant program.  We sought to make the program more welcoming to a diverse body of students by eliminating the tax inequity faced by international students when receiving awards. Previously, unlike US citizens and permanent residents, international students without “native” collaborators would be charged for taxes which would be deducted from their grant monies, thus ending up with much less funding than their original award. Now, the grant program covers the extra tax expenses on behalf of the students, and the more equitable distribution of our resources allows us to reach a wider student population. Last year we were able to support two solo projects led by international students. We consider this an important development in that it allows us to think about our anti-racism transnationally.

We have also prioritized more underrepresented stores, unheard voices, and urgent issues in the decision-making process of the selection committee. The compositional makeup of the committee was not only diverse; we also emphasized projects that addressed matters of social justice. The committee has opted to support projects engaged with larger social questions especially this year, such as the ones on the ecological and habitual effects of the border wall construction in the Guadalupe Canyon and on the social afterlife of an ex-mining town in Zambia, both told from local perspectives.

We have also diversified our pool of mentors who work with our student grantees, trying to reach out to, and include, mentors from many different backgrounds.