Stowe Story Labs Receives Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Stowe Story Labs has been approved for a $20,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support the Stowe Sidewalk Film Festival in 2022.

This project will expand cultural and creative horizons for regional film audiences and artists; forge new alliances between artists from such different regions of the country; and enhance Vermont’s profile as a vital place to nurture and support an international community of filmmakers and screenwriters. Stowe Story Labs’ project is among the more than 1,100 projects across America totaling nearly $27 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding.

“As the country and the arts sector begin to imagine returning to a post-pandemic world, the National Endowment for the Arts is proud to announce funding that will help arts organizations such as Stowe Story Labs reengage fully with partners and audiences,” said NEA Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “Although the arts have sustained many during the pandemic, the chance to gather with one another and share arts experiences is its own necessity and pleasure.”

“We are so appreciative of this award,” said David Rocchio, Founder and Director of Stowe Story Labs. “It is both an affirmation of the vision we have set out—to bring people together over stories that can entertain and generate compassion, understanding, and uplift—and to create a wonderful event in the mountains of Vermont every June,” he said.

The Stowe Sidewalk Film Festival will provide three days of independent film programming curated in partnership with the Sidewalk Film Festival and coincide with Stowe’s annual Narrative Story Lab. It will showcase feature films and shorts in one to three programming blocks daily, and spark dialogue between audiences and filmmakers through artist Q&As, receptions, and other social events. The inaugural festival will happen during Stowe’s 10th annual lab.

Now in its 9th year, Stowe Story Labs is a Vermont-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to bringing top emerging screenwriters, filmmakers, and creative producers from around the world together with seasoned industry professionals to help get film and TV projects made and seen.

Stowe Mentor and SAGindie Executive Director Darrien M. Gipson speaking with participants at the 2019 Sidewalk Narrative Lab.

Sidewalk is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging filmmaking and building audiences for independent film in Birmingham, Alabama. For twenty-three years, the organization’s premiere event has been the Sidewalk Film Festival, which showcases the work of more than 250 filmmakers and welcomes over 15,000 film lovers to Birmingham annually.

For more information on the projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.