A new report from the Wyncote Foundation that profiles eight place-based organizations that use media for cultural expression served as the backdrop for this important discussion highlighting how funders can celebrate “place.”

Grantmakers, policymakers and advocates seeking to build support for local public interest media rightly focus on the essential role of journalism that equips citizens with news and information about politics, education, health and safety. Given the devastating impact of cutbacks in local newspapers, expanding diverse perspectives and experiences within mainstream reporting is essential to helping citizens participate in our democracy. But a focus on essential “public interest information” often overlooks work that fosters personal expression, celebrates cultures of locally distinct communities, or introduces the work of a local community’s artists to broader audiences.

The Wyncote report, Culture, Heritage, and Place: How Media Amplifies Community Narrative, profiles eight place-based organizations that use media for cultural expression and connection with local funding support. These organizations gather and amplify stories, histories, languages, and arts that foster authentic narratives rooted in place. They help nourish a humane civic sphere, one that honors and celebrates cultural heritage and diversity of voice.

We heard from:

Learn how place-based funders and practitioners profiled in the report are producing media to animate and advance diverse program priorities and grantmaking goals in local communities:

About the Author
Media Impact Funders

Media Impact Funders

Contact us

Media Impact Funders traces its roots back to the Council on Foundations, a longtime philanthropy-serving organization. Formerly Grantmakers in Film, Video & Television, MIF began on a volunteer basis in 1984 as an affinity group for funders interested in the power of film to highlight social issues. Reflecting changes in technology and media behavior over the past decade, it was renamed Grantmakers in Film & Electronic Media (GFEM) and formally incorporated in 2008 to advance the field of media arts and public interest media funding. It had 45 members and was headed by former MacArthur Foundation Program Officer Alyce Myatt. GFEM was renamed Media Impact Funders in 2012 and has since expanded its strategy to include a broad range media funding interests such as journalism, immersive technologies, media policy and more. Since that time, MIF has grown to more than 80 organizational members representing some of the largest foundations, and holds more than 40 in-person and online events yearly.