Austin Film Society, Austin Film Festival Get NEA Backing

Two of Austin's most important cinematic institutions - the Austin Film Society and the Austin Film Festival - have been announced as recipients of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

As the leading film non-profit in the region, AFS will receive $25,000 from the NEA to continue its programming and curation of film series around the year.

As for the AFF grant, the festival will receive $10,000 from the NEA to assist in the digitizing and archiving of the hundreds of hours of interviews recorded at the festival and special events around the year, and curated as the On Story project. AFF Executive Director Barbara Morgan said, “The content captured at the Festival directly reflects its reputation for being an intimate, instructive, and inspirational experience. We couldn’t be more thrilled for this incredible opportunity given by the NEA to help us provide these resources to the general public, free to anyone with an interest in storytelling through film, television, and new media.”

These grants are just two of 1,187 totaling $27.3 million awarded by the NEA for the first round for 2020 (there will be a second round later in the year), going to artistic entities in all 50 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico. Both AFS and AFF have a long history of receiving NEA grants. Arts Endowment chairman Mary Anne Carter wrote, “The arts are at the heart of our communities, connecting people through shared experiences and artistic expression.”

Other Austin creative entities receiving NEA grants this round include:

• American Short Fiction - $10,000
• Austin ISD - $100,000
• Creative Action - $50,000
• Golden Hornet Project - $10,000
• Mexic-Arte - $25,000
• Puetro Rican Folkloric Dance - $20,000
• Tilt - $10,000
• UT Austin - $30,000
• Visions in Rhythm - $15,000
• ZACH theatre $10,000