Announcing: 2023 NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre Recipients

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. 

Launched in 2018, the NYC Women’s Fund was created to address the underrepresentation and equity challenges that women have historically faced in the media and entertainment industries. UCLA’s 2023 Hollywood Diversity Report, which looks at both theatrical and streaming films released in 2022, found that women were still trailing behind men with regards to representation in theatrical films, with 39% as lead actors, 27% as writers and 15% as directors. In celebratory news, lead roles for women in streaming films were 49%. 

To ensure post-pandemic content continues to be inclusive of women creatives, the NYC Women’s Fund provides finishing funds that help bring projects, by, for or about women to fruition, achieve their personal and professional goals, and elevate the creative industries to a more equitable playing field. A few additional examples of success for previous NYC Women’s Fund program participants include: 

• Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía Beba Contreras, Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodríguez-Falcó (2022 Grantee) – Hummingbirds, won the Grand Prix in Generation 14plus at Berlinale. 
• Michele Stephenson and Joe Brewster (2021 Grantee) – Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary.
• Roundabout Theatre, Sanaz Toossi playwright, in partnership with Atlantic Theatre Company (2021 Grantee) – ENGLISH, named “best new American play staged Off Broadway over a two-year period” at the 2023 Obie Awards.
• Jane Ira Bloom (2021 Grantee) – Picturing the Invisible – Focus 1, nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award for Best Immersive Audio Album.  

“We are proud to congratulate the 2023 award recipients of the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre, which will further these 96 projects by, for and about women and expand opportunities for these creatives to elevate their craft,” said NYC Media and Entertainment Commissioner Anne del Castillo. “While there is still much work to be done to advance equity in the media and entertainment industries, the success of the NYC Women’s Fund projects underscores the increasing demand for more diverse content and representation on screen, on stage and in song.”

“We are proud to partner with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment to administer the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre,” said Michael Royce, Chief Executive Officer of NYFA. “We are grateful to support women-identifying musicians and film, media, and theatre makers with funding that helps them to realize their projects in the way they intended, in alignment with their true creative vision. The resulting works add depth and breadth to our listening and watching experiences, enriching the cultural fabric of NYC and beyond.”

“Let’s have a huge round of applause for the latest NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre recipients!” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. “Women New Yorkers represent a powerhouse of talent and creativity which too often goes underrecognized and under supported. I’m proud of our colleagues in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment for creating these opportunities for women in the film and theater industries as an important step toward fostering greater equity and inclusion in this critical sector.”

“Not just as a member of this historic first majority-woman City Council, not just in my capacity as the Chair of the Council’s Committee on Women and Gender Equity, but indeed simply as a lover of media and entertainment, I could not be more excited for the recipients of this funding,” said Council Member Tiffany Cabán. “For too long, these industries have been dominated by men producing man-centered works. Thank goodness for the efforts of the NYC Women’s Fund to bring some gender equity to this vital sector.”

“The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre is an important initiative to address the underrepresentation of women leaders in film, television, music, digital, and theatre,” said Council Member Amanda Farías. “The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) is a critical part of our City’s economic development. By prioritizing $7.5 million in grants to women-led projects our City is recommitting to prioritizing the upward mobility of hundreds of women citywide. As the Chair of the Committee on Economic Development and Co-Chair of the Women’s Caucus I am excited to see such attention to the intersection of women issues and economic development. Thank you to Mayor Adams, Commissioner Anne del Castillo, and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) for this initiative.”

“I’m so proud of the grant recipients for the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music, and Theatre,” said Council Member Farah Louis. “As a council member who recognizes the vital role that media and entertainment play in our city’s culture and economy, I am thrilled to see the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) continuing to support women’s voices through the NYC Women’s Fund. With the fourth round of grant recipients receiving $2 million in finishing funds, we are ensuring that women have the resources they need to create and tell their stories. This funding not only promotes equity in the industry, but it also creates opportunities for diverse perspectives to be heard. I applaud MOME and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) for their dedication to empowering women in media, music, and theater and I look forward to the incredible projects that will come from these talented recipients.”

“The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music, and Theater is investing in the foundation of our city,” said Council Member Che Ossé. “The grant recipients are deeply deserving of this public support, and their work will go on to enrich our city and inspire future generations of artists and change makers. This is a perfect example of how government can commit our resources effectively to build a New York that is by and for everyone.”

“It’s incredible to see New York City taking specific, direct and sustained action to dismantle gender inequities across media and entertainment,” said Faye Penn, Executive Director of Women.NYC and Executive Vice President of Initiatives, NYCEDC. “By opening the door to big careers for diverse female creators we need to hear more from, the NYC Women’s Fund will pay off for years to come.”

Please use #NYCWomensFund to participate in the conversation on social media.

More About the 2023 NYC Women’s Fund For Music, Media and Theatre

The 96 grants were awarded to projects in the following categories: 

• 18 General Music – each received up to $20,000 
• 18 Theatre Productions – each received up to $50,000 
• 14 Classical/Jazz/Experimental Music – each received up to $20,000 
• 14 Fiction Short – each received up to $25,000 
• 9 Documentary Features – each received up to $50,000 
• 7 Documentary Shorts – each received up to $25,000 
• 5 Documentary Webisodes/Webseries – each received up to $20,000 
• 7 Fiction Webisode/Webseries – each received up to $20,000 
• 4 Fiction Features – each received up to $50,000

A panel of 43 industry experts evaluated the projects, including: 

• Samah Ali, DOC NYC Shorts Programmer
• Sharese Bullock-Bailey, Festival Director & Chief Innovation Officer, Urbanworld
• Erika Elliot, Executive Artistic Director, SummerStage and Charlie Parker Jazz Festival at City Parks Foundation
• Emilia Ferreira, Feature Film Programmer, Brooklyn Film Festival
• Kristen Fitzpatrick, Managing Director, Field of Vision
• Cynthia Flowers, Director of Soho Rep
• Lana Lin, film artist and Director of Documentary Studies, The New School
• Den Quinsay, Managing Director,Bronx Documentary Center
• Ambreen Qureshi, Executive Director, Educational Video Center

Find out about additional awards and grants here. Sign up for our free bi-weekly newsletter, NYFA News, to receive announcements about future NYFA events and programs. 

Funding for this program is provided by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME).