Grantee Database
QWOCMAP
Grant Year
2025-26
Grant Program
Arts and Youth
Award Amount
$20,500.00
Project Description
With support from the California Arts Council, QUEER WOMEN OF COLOR MEDIA ARTS PROJECT-QWOCMAP will activate youth voices, narratives, and perspectives through the Film & Freedom Academy, which provides FREE artistically rigorous, culturally responsive filmmaking workshop that provides social/emotional learning for LBTQIA+ BIPOC Youth ages 18-24 (African descent/Black; Native American/American Indian, Indigenous, First Nations; Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander; Asian, incl. Southeast Asian & South Asian; Latinx, incl. indígena & afrodescendiente; Southwest Asian, North African, Arab, “Middle Eastern,” & Muslim; and multi-ethnic & multi-racial people of color). QWOCMAP will offer creative experiences in a safe, healthy, and appropriate learning environment that empowers youth, fosters creative abilities, and cultivates transferable leadership skills through this workforce development program.
Organization Summary
Filmmaker Development Program
This FREE program includes workforce development initiatives – Film & Freedom Academy, Critical Juncture, QTWork Apprenticeship, QWOCMAP Productions Studio, Future Archives, Movement Match – as a pathway into film careers and the creative economy.
QWOCMAP provides professional development, artistically rigorous training, and resources and support while increasing economic mobility through on-the job training, filmmaking gigs, stipend internships, filmmaker honoraria, and teaching artist fees.
26-year IMPACT:
– FREE Fully accessible workshops: CART/live captions, ASL, Crisis Counselors, & more
– 515+ new films created by LBTQIA+ people of color
– $95,427 in Youth & Disabled participant stipends since 2018 (Film & Freedom Academy)
– $226,125 paid to LBTQIA+ Black filmmakers in 2024 (Critical Juncture)
– Culturally responsive & trauma-informed
– Competitive film program completion at USC, UCLA, Temple, etc. and work for companies including NBCUniversal, CBS Studios, Hulu, Netflix, Disney Channel, etc.
Dr. Yvonne Welbon: “It’s accessible to everyone… You don’t have to pay $50,000 a year in tuition. That’s remarkable.”
International Queer Women of Color Film Festival
FREE and in the top 3 most accessible film festivals in the world, it creates opportunities by connecting filmmakers, films, hyper local and global audiences, film industry, and 300+ Community Partner organizations.
22-year IMPACT:
– FREE fully accessible screenings: open captions, audio description, ASL, respiratory safety, Crisis Counselors
– $100,000 in filmmaker support since 2003
– 28,324 attendees since 2007
“This is my favorite Pride event… It was the first place I saw people who looked like me on the big screen, living quiet, happy lives.”
Distribution Program
Boutique film distribution provides education, strengthens movements, and builds impact with the world’s largest catalog of films by LBTQIA+ people of color acclaimed by film festival juries and audience awards.
20-year IMPACT:
– 30,000+ audiences across 6 continents
– Custom-curated programs no other film distributor offers to educational institutions, arts organizations, film festivals, community-based nonprofits, churches, mosques, temples & synagogues
Organization
QWOCMAP
Address
1014 Torney Avenue Suite 111
SAN FRANCISCO
94129-1755
County
San Francisco
Region
Bay Area – San Francisco
Website
Congressional District
California's 12th congressional district
State Assembly District
District 19
State Senate District
District 11
