**IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that NBPC's regularly scheduled Open Call funding program is currently suspended for restructuring. Further information will be available in the near future concerning NBPC's new funding processes. All subscribers to the NBPC mailing lists will receive up to date information as soon as available.
For thirty years NBPC has been an effective advocate for media makers telling stories about the African American and African Diaspora experience. Since 1991, NBPC has awarded over $7 million to independent filmmakers whose work has provided several hundreds of hours of programming on the PBS system. NBPC funded titles include Linda Goode Bryant’s award-winning Flag Wars, Rodney Evans’ Brother to Brother, Spike Lee’s A Huey P. Newton Story, and Stanley Nelson’s The Murder of Emmett Till, These programs and many more have appeared as PBS specials or on signature public television series such as Independent Lens and POV.
To broaden opportunities for stories about the African American & African Diaspora experience to appear on US domestic television and to engage and educate diverse audiences via the internet, NBPC now has several different program initiatives (AfroPop, blackpublicmedia.org) that offer a variety of opportunities for producers and other content media makers to fund, receive training and exhibit their programs across multiple platforms.
NBPC’s Open Call funds broadcast and new media projects about the global black experience. The Open Call program offers funding support in exchange for licensing the project for public media purposes. Broadcast projects should have the potential of airing as a PBS Special or on one of the PBS signature series (Independent Lens, POV, American Experience, American Masters, Great Performances). New Media projects should be participatory in nature with the goal of educating and engaging audiences. Projects are considered at all phases of production. Funding support ranges from $5000 to $60,000. Please refer to the Open Call guidelines for more detailed information.
AFROPOP
AfroPop is NBPC’s public television series of contemporary stories about the African Diaspora. Hosted by Idris Elba, AfroPop features independent contemporary documentaries, shorts, and narratives, which focus specifically on the stories and experiences of the peoples of the African Diaspora. NBPC’s seeks only completed or nearly complete programs for the series. Visit AfroPop.TV for more information about submitting a program. To see a trailer from AfroPop Season One click here.
BLACKPUBLICMEDIA.ORG
In 2007 NBPC launched Blackpublicmedia.Org to provide a platform for these projects to be viewed and experienced by audiences. Blackpublicmedia.Org (BPM) is an online destination for free video streaming and distribution of new media related to the global black experience. At BPM you can watch free full-length streams of select documentaries, purchase-to-own engaging downloads, DVDs, and more, visitors can even subscribe to a variety of blogs, vodcasts, podcasts, or participate in our online contests that encourage the creation of new media content. If you’re a producer seeking an online outlet for your program, please email a letter of inquiry to NBPC’s Digital Media Director, Nonso Christian Ugbode.
NEW MEDIA INSTITUTE
The New Media Institute is a yearly production lab which works to transform multicultural producers into content providers who can work seamlessly between media platforms. The goal of the NMI is to help mdia content makers gain command of the ever-changing technology in order to enable civic responsibility with various communities. The NMI is produced in conjunction with the National Minority Consortia which consists of the Center for Asian-American Media, the Latinos in Public Broadcasting, the Native Americans in Public Telecommunications and the Pacific Islands in Communications as well as NBPC. For more information about the NMI contact NMI Assistant Director, Thabi Moyo.
PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION
NBPC license completed work for distribution across multiple platforms. Works can be short or long, documentary or narrative, for television, internet or cell phones, NBPC can act as an agent to present the program to various platform distributors. For more information about about NBPC distribution please email a letter of inquiry to NBPC Program’s Associate, Kagendo Murungi.