Renowned Creatives To Join Panel of Jurors for 2022 Ida B. Wells Fund

Chromatic black™, a collective of 10,000+ Black artists and activists dedicated to building cultural power and advancing justice for Black communities through equitable storytelling, announced today the esteemed panel of jurors set to evaluate submissions for the 2022 Ida B. Wells Fund.

The 2022 Ida B. Wells Fund is a film competition created to support Black story makers with a grant to develop new original works that disrupt the master narrative.

Categories include short filmmaking, visual arts, and creative placemaking. Winners of the competition will be awarded grants ranging from $1,000 to $25,000, totaling nearly $200,000 for Black creatives.

The Ida B. Wells Fund, which was launched in early August, will invest in projects that critique dominant social and historical narratives. Award recipients will be chosen by an interdisciplinary panel composed of expert curators, filmmakers, producers, arts professionals, scholars and winners from last year in a thorough, multi-step review process. Panel of jurors for the short filmmaking and visual arts submissions include:

The Short Film Fund will award five Black filmmakers with $15,000 each. Deadline for submissions is Oct. 28, 2022. Panel of jurors for the short filmmaking category include:

• Honorary Chair Paula J. Giddings, author of “Ida: A Sword Among Lions” and civil rights activist
• Gloria Steinem, journalist, activist and a leader in the global feminist movement
• Korstsiaan Vandiver, writer, producer, director and filmmaker, “Gym Rat” and an upcoming film “!2”
• Ian Christian Duff, actor, “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “We Own This City”
• Dominique Thorne, actor, upcoming Marvel “Ironheart” and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever scheduled for Fall 2022
• Yoruba Richen, an award winning documentary filmmaker, the Rebellious Rosa Parks
• Lisa Hayles, co-founder, the Racial Justice Investing Center
• Delilah Rothenberg, co-founder and executive director, the Predistribution Initiative
• Cory Hardrict, actor, “Never Been Kissed,” “ER,” “That’s So Raven”
• Jewell Jackson McCabe, president emeritus, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women
• Ken Sunshine, co-chief executive officer and founder, Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis
• Max Wong, filmmaker and producer, “Bring It On”
• Jeff Kusama-Hinte, filmmaker and producer, “Mysterious Skin,” “The Hawk Is Dying”

Visual Arts will award twelve visual artists with $1,000 each. Deadline for submissions is November 03, 2022. Panel of jurors for the visual arts category include:

• Honorary Chair Nicole Dixon, artist and activist
• Leslie Lewis Lowry, curatorial and research expert, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Gilbert Young, an internationally renowned artist, muralist, and conservator, and he developed the portrait of Barack Obama entitled “History + Hope = Change”
• Karen Seneferu, a mixed media artist

Winners of the 2021 Ida B. Wells Fund include Lamard W Cher-Aime’s ‘Captain Zero: The Animated Series’, which speaks to the importance of mental health awareness in the Black communities, and Christine Swanson’s ‘FANNIE’, a 2022 BronzeLens award-winning short film that examines the acclaimed freedom fighter’s gripping account of the brutality Black Americans faced along the journey to full equality and voting rights, staring Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis.

“I am so honored to portray trailblazing civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer in FANNIE,” said Oscar-nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis.

“From the inception of the American experiment to the present day, racism and white supremacy remain embedded in our systems, impacting the health and wellbeing of Black and Brown people. Fannie’s powerful words and activism are just as important for our community today as they were when she bravely proclaimed them. I’m so grateful to Chromatic Black and their Ida B. Wells Fund for supporting this film and providing Black artist-activists everywhere the opportunity to disrupt the master narrative together.”