A message from Jill Tidman, Executive Director
Ten years ago we proclaimed: if we can fix the Colorado River Delta – the most broken reach of this essential waterway – we can demonstrate that no place is beyond hope. This vision came through Raise the River, a coalition inspired by our 2012 documentary WATERSHED, made up of six US and Mexican NGOs, including The Redford Center.
Celebrating the Colorado River flowing all the way to the sea was a favorite milestone of 2021, and there were many. It was a testament to hope, and proof that stories lead to real-world impact and lasting change, which was always the aspiration of our beloved co-founder, Jamie Redford, who cared a great deal about our efforts in the Delta and made several trips to support the restoration himself.
Last fall marked one year since Jamie’s passing. This made 2021 The Redford Center’s first full year of operations without him. It was hard at times. We still miss him intensely. But his legacy fueled us, and with his son Dylan Redford’s leadership of the board, we moved through a period of tremendous progress and growth.
So as the pandemic raged on, climate disasters devastated communities all over the world, and the general public’s awareness of our global environmental emergency reached an all-time high, our charge was to match the urgency of the moment with action and strategic expansion.
Because we focus on stories that propagate solutions, we were buoyed by our community and the drive to do more. Maybe most significantly, we doubled our nimble, dedicated team and added exciting new capacity to push forward our mission. We supported more artists in a year than ever before and tripled the amount of grants funding we typically give out. We released short films to advance clean transportation solutions, in collaboration with CHISPA and LCV. We hosted our first film pitch event at DOC NYC to spotlight issues of nature access, working alongside our colleagues at If/Then. In collaboration with NRDC and The Black List, we invested in a new climate screenwriting fellowship for feature-length narrative tv and film projects. We inspired the creation of over 400 student films about environmental justice, presented 35 free, online film screenings, onboarded 18 new fiscally sponsored film and media projects, and along the way, we developed an ambitious and guiding strategic plan.
In the end, I believe we met the moment of 2021 with fervor, and with next-level determination to make good on Jamie’s vision.
And as we continue our work to radically change the landscape of impactful environmental films, I am grounded daily by an undercurrent of gratitude for the resolve and contributions of The Redford Center community – the courage of the filmmakers, the commitment of the educators, the passion of our collaborations, the generosity of our donors, and the fellowship and support of our board, staff, and advisors.
Wherever you fall on the list, please know how much your efforts are valued, and thank you for making a difference.
Join us as we reflect on some impactful and memorable moments from 2021
Building People Power
Have you met our amazing new team? In a year full of transitions, and in an effort to meet the scope, scale, and ambition of our plans, we expanded our team from 5 to 11 full-time staff members. All of them were successfully recruited and onboarded remotely during pandemic working conditions. They jumped into programmatic work streams without hesitation, brought new vision and energy to our year-end efforts, and immediately began building the systems required to support our next phase of work.
We're honored that our staff now includes a larger group of media, film, communications, environmental, education, and nonprofit professionals who represent a broad intersection of experiences and bring new perspectives to our work.
Expanding Nature Access
As our commitment to reimagine environmentalism grows, and leads us to connect beyond the base of existing environmental advocates, a key narrative strategy underpinning this work is our Nature Films Program. We believe equitable access to nature is essential to dramatically shift the notion of what it means to be an environmentalist. Disproportionately impacted communities and voices must remain front and center in the environmental movement as we aim to create a just transition to a healthier world for all.
At the 2021 DOC NYC Festival, six short film projects participated in our Nature Access Pitch event held in collaboration with IF/Then. We awarded development grants and mentorship to three of the six projects that look into historical, cultural, and ancestral connections to land, water, and nature.
Driving Clean Transportation
Following a successful #PowertheVote 2020 storytelling campaign to turn out environmental voters, in 2021 we continued to deploy rapid response filmmaking strategies to activate civic engagement when and where it is needed most. In collaboration with the League of Conservation Voters and Chispa, we created and released the first two films in a series of shorts showcasing how mobilizing community power enacts lasting change and is one of our greatest opportunities to advance clean transportation projects at state and local levels.
Our first two Community Power films share stories of how local Latinx activists are achieving much-needed change for their regions in the name of clean transportation, jobs, justice, and health. Collectively garnering more than 1 million impressions and 120,000 views online, both films are screening in festivals now.
Spotlighting Food, Land, Water, Justice
Since launching our grants program in 2016, we’ve remained one of the few entities exclusively supporting environmental documentary film projects and filmmakers throughout the entire filmmaking process with multifaceted support systems. In 2021, through our Redford Center Grants program, we continued to support our cohort of 22 active projects that reflect the full complexity of environmental challenges at the intersections of food, land, water, and justice. Unable to gather in person, we hosted three virtual learning and networking sessions for our grantees on topics including fundraising, distribution, impact planning, and ethical and accountable filmmaking.
In 2021, we more than tripled the amount of funding typically granted and provided our first impact campaign grants to feature documentaries WE STILL HERE / NOS TENEMOS and RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE. We also supported grantee projects ADAPTATION, EXPOSURE, MANZANAR DIVERTED, MEAT THE FUTURE, and YOUTH V GOV in their impact efforts and secured funds to launch our fourth grants cycle.
Restoring the Delta
Ten years ago, we supported the formation of a binational coalition as an outcome of our 2012 feature film Watershed’s impact campaign. The Raise the River coalition of six US and Mexico NGOs collaborates to revive the Colorado River Delta, where we lead storytelling, community engagement, and outreach efforts. Over the years, the coalition has raised $15 million for the effort, and worked with policymakers, water agencies, and governmental representatives on targeted strategies to return water and life to the region and ultimately establish a permanent conservation corridor.
For 126 days in 2021, roughly 11 billion gallons of water were released into the Colorado River Delta, supporting local economies, improving wildlife habitats, and reconnecting this iconic river to the sea.
Honoring Youth Voices
In 2021, our youth environmental justice storytelling initiative, Redford Center Stories, completed its second school year and extended into high school as it entered its third school year. As a go-to resource for educators, after-school program leaders, youth development organizations, and homeschooling parents, the program offers a free and flexible, film-based curriculum and a global filmmaking challenge for youth ages 10 to 18 interested in sharing their views on environmental justice.
In 2021, students and educators from 32 states and 13 countries engaged with the Redford Center Stories curriculum, and more than 400 short student films were submitted to our Youth Environmental Filmmaking Challenge. 100% of participating educators said they would recommend the program to their colleagues.
Cultivating Community
While we deeply miss sharing in-person time and space with our community, we are grateful our efforts and offerings are able to meaningfully continue online. In 2021, as part of our youth programming, we hosted four virtual Meet the Moment events and participated in many other screening events, festivals, conferences, and labs. Highlights include the inVivo Conference, NRDC’s Rewrite the Future Filmmaker Briefing, DocLands, Sunnyside of the Doc, Shelter’s Climate Migration Panel, and Climate Story Lab Mexico.
In 2021, our free, virtual, screening program, Friday Night Films, provided a platform and audience for 35 environmental films, including fan favorites, BLACK ICE, ONE WORD SAWALMEM, PLAYING FOR KEEPS, STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS, AFTER ANTARTICA, and WARRIOR WOMEN.
Imagining New Narratives
Recognizing a persistent shortage of fiction films with impactful, hopeful, and solutions-focused environmental and climate narratives, in 2021 we piloted new offerings for screenwriters developing narrative projects and advised a small group of writers working on feature-length film and TV series scripts.
In 2021, we collaborated with NRDC and the Black List to launch a new national climate storytelling fellowship program aimed at getting hopeful, actionable climate narratives into mainstream film and TV projects.
Building the Field
Fiscal Sponsorship is an essential tool we offer to independent environmental film and media makers, allowing them to raise philanthropic funds from donors through the power of our extended 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The projects in this portfolio span many storytelling formats – i.e. feature films, shorts, series, virtual reality, and podcasts – and include notable films like The Love Bugs, which garnered a 2021 Emmy Award for “Outstanding Short Documentary."
In 2021, we onboarded 18 new fiscally sponsored film and media projects and dispersed roughly $2 million in sponsored funds.
Welcoming New Supporters
As a grantmaking environmental nonprofit organization, without an endowment, every dollar we invest in a program or a story, we need to raise. At the same time, funding for the arts, climate, and environmental justice are some of the most critically underfunded areas of opportunity to drive the system-level changes we so urgently need. Less than 2% of global philanthropic giving goes to support climate mitigation, and only 4% of philanthropic giving in the United States goes to support the arts.
In 2021, we welcomed new funders to our family of supporters, including Energy Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Skoll Foundation, and Acton Family Giving.
Thank You
2021 will go down as an unforgettable year for The Redford Center. It was a time of reflection and growth with an increased focus on our care for our community, programs, and collaborations at an unprecedented moment in time. We are driven by the awareness that so much still needs to be done to achieve our vision of a world where human and planetary health and justice are fundamental values driving action.
Your continued support will enable us to expand our diverse network of environmental storytellers and expand our audiences for new original content. With your commitment, we can remain at the forefront of the environmental movement, as a resource for artists, activists, and educators working to leverage the power of storytelling to drive meaningful, durable change.
Featured Photo: Local families from the communities in the Colorado River Delta enjoy the additional benefits of the 2021 planned releases of water for the environment. Vado Caranza, June 2021. Photo by Jesús Salazar.