Vermont Public has announced the first recipients of the Made Here Fund, an initiative to broaden and diversify storytelling in Vermont.
Ten projects by content creators representing six Vermont counties will receive a total of $100,000 to produce pieces including short documentary and animated films, digital shorts and audio series. Projects were reviewed by a panel of Vermont Public employees and community members.
"I'm incredibly excited about the projects that received funding this year,” said Eric Ford, director of content partnership at Vermont Public. “They represent a broad spectrum of voices in Vermont — voices that you might not typically hear — and Vermonters will be able to connect with these stories in many ways.”
Recipients include:
- Bira Vanara, Middlebury, for short/digital video series "Biraland," $15,000.
- Vermont Folklife, Middlebury, for audio/podcast series "The Arts That Shape Us," $8,000.
- Willow O'Feral and Brad Heck, Guilford, for short documentary film "Untitled Asylum Seekers Project," $10,000.
- Rocket, White River Junction, for short/digital video series "Small Vermont Businesses in Small Vermont Towns," $15,000.
- Onel Salazar Umanzor, Cabot, for short video "Seven Years in Vermont," $10,000.
- Cedar O’Dowd, White River Junction, for short animated film "I Have Something to Get Off My Chest," $2,745.
- MacPherson Christopher, Guilford; Paul Rosenfeld, Burlington; and Tik Root, Burlington, for short documentary film "La Liga," $15,000.
- Jennifer Sutton and Elissa Pine, Brattleboro, for audio series "The Afghan Women of Brattleboro," $12,000.
- Malcolm Silver-Van Meter and Yueyao Wang, Thetford, for short documentary film "The Balloonist," $8,000.
- Travis Van Alstyne, South Burlington, for short animated film "Love of the Land," $4,100.
Projects will be completed between April 2023 and early 2025. Vermont Public will work with the recipients to distribute and promote the projects after they are completed.