The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) Awarded a Combined $2 Million in Funding to 96 Projects

The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), in partnership with New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), has awarded $2 million to 96 projects through the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre. This groundbreaking initiative, which aims to address the underrepresentation of women in film and digital media, music, and theatre, has provided a total of $7.5 million to 342 projects (89 in 2022, 94 in 2020 and 63 in 2019). The full lists of categories, awarded projects, and industry panelists who made the selections can be found at nyc.gov/nycwomensfund. Photo and video assets can be found here.

“New York City is filled with powerful women whose unique stories and voices have the ability to change lives and inspire future generations,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “Our administration is dedicated to ensuring those stories are shared in theaters, at venues, on stages, and on screens all over the world. I salute the newest recipients of the New York City Women’s Fund, and I am proud our city is investing $7.5 million here to create a more equitable media and entertainment industry.”

Selected from 1,103 applications, the fourth round of NYC Women’s Fund projects represent a broad range of work by a diverse group of creatives at various stages of their careers. Grants were awarded in nine categories including general music, classical/jazz/experimental music, theatre productions, fiction shorts, documentary features, documentary shorts, documentary webisodes/webseries and fiction webisodes/webseries, and fiction features. Notable highlights, themes and trends among this year’s recipients include: 

• Women in Comedy: The Comedians, from Jackie Aude (Queens) a docu-series that explores the lives of up-and-coming comedians across the US, Girls Aren’t Funny from Jasia Ka (Brooklyn), a fiction web-series that highlights NYC’s stand-up scene, and The French Italian, from Rachel Wolther (Manhattan), which stars comedians Catherine Cohen and Ruby McCollister, all pick up where The Marvelous Ms. Maisel leaves off, to showcase a woman’s perspective on comedy. 
• Immigrant/Diasporic stories: There is a large collection of theatre works representing the depth and breadth of the immigrant experience recognized this year, including the interdisciplinary show Más Que Un Pétalo, from Salomé Egas (Brooklyn), which deconstructs the Ecuadorian immigrant experience; the bilingual play To the Ends of the Earth / 땅끝까지, from Jeesun Choi (Manhattan), about the Korean diaspora; the multi-art play Titi Strikes Back – Evelina’s Return (working title), from Yvette Martinez (Bronx), Director, One World Arts, and ¡Retumba!, which celebrates the life of Puerto Rican activist Dr. Evelina Antonetty; and Riven, from Marina Zurita (Manhattan), which brings awareness to the global community of waste pickers through a story of two Brazilian women. 
• Creative voices from Brooklyn: For the third year in a row, residents of Brooklyn make up more than half of recipients. 

         2023 NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre Recipients - NYFA

          https://www.nyfa.org/blog/announcing-2023-nyc-womens-fund-for-media-music-and-theatre-recipients