Sponsored Projects | BlackStar

Sponsored Projects

A still from "Bravo, Burkina!" shows a Black person running across a desert landscape.

Sponsored Projects

Our Sponsored Projects program provides a supportive infrastructure through fiscal sponsorship to projects working at the intersection of art and social justice.

This program is inspired by our peers at Allied Media Projects.

Fiscal sponsorship is a legal relationship through which a 501(c)3 public charitable organization sponsors an individual or group that requires the benefits of the tax-exempt and legal status of the sponsoring organization to realize a project. Artists often need this tax-exempt status to apply for grants (since most foundations require it to distribute funding) or to fundraise from individuals who prefer to be able to claim their financial contributions as deductions on their taxes.

BlackStar offers grant-specific sponsorship. The details and requirements to be eligible for consideration for sponsorship are listed below. Overall, all projects sponsored by BlackStar must be artist-driven projects by an individual, team or collective. You are not required to have a LLC, sole proprietorship or any other type of incorporation. The project must align with BlackStar’s mission, vision and values. Interested projects must apply to be accepted as a sponsored project. A committee of BlackStar’s board of directors will review applications to assess the project’s alignment with our mission as well as to maintain a manageable total count of projects for our staff to be able to support. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We ask that artists apply at least two months prior to their need to ensure enough time for our process.

Grant Specific Sponsorship

Our grant specific fiscal sponsorship offers funding specific support to artist-led projects by an individual, team or collective. BlackStar accepts grants and tax-exempt donations on behalf of the project and then distributes those funds to the project. The individual, team or collective is responsible for their own accounting and bookkeeping for those funds. We do not assume any legal or fiduciary responsibility for the project.

• Receiving contributed funds
• Disbursing contributed funds to the project
• Annual distribution of donor tax letters

This sponsorship does not offer tax-deductible status for external contributions through a crowdfunding platform or fundraising events.

The fee for grant specific fiscal sponsorship is 5% of your grant or gift amounts.

NOTE: Funding must be secured before applying to become a BlackStar sponsored project.

A still from "Bravo, Burkina!" shows a Black person running across a desert landscape.

Bravo, Burkina!

Produced in the nations of Burkina Faso and Italy, this cross-continental narrative illustrates the beauty that migrants bear across borders while conveying the familial chasms which commonly widen in their absence. A film by Walé Oyéjidé for Ethical Fashion Initiative.
Lead Organizer: Walé Oyéjidé

A simple graphic showing the words "coming soon" in white on a plain black background.

Chasing Dia

Chasing Dia centers Dia, a ten-year-old Black girl whose world has been turned upside down by her parents pending divorce, which she secretly declares as her first heartbreak. While away at summer camp, Dia discovers a series of astrological riddles amongst the things she’s brought from home, presumably from her father.
Lead organizer: Stephanie Malson

A graphic with a circular photo of a Black woman wearing a checkered dress in the center. Around the photo there is text that say "The Claudia Jones Project."

The Claudia Jones Project

The Claudia Jones Project is an experimental study circle, research collective and grounding space for deep reflection and interpretation of the life and legacy of the anti-fascist Trinidadian cultural worker, Claudia Jones. The project’s central aim is to make an experimental documentary based on the eponymous figure, who was a Harlem based labor organizer, journalist, mentee of DuBois, communist party leader, ‘proto-feminist’ and author.
Lead Organizer: Farrah Rahaman

A still from Cosmic Egg shows two Indian women sitting in front of a red painted wall. They are dressed in traditional clothing and are smiling.

Cosmic Egg

Cosmic Egg is a poetic documentary about yearning, the desire for procreation, and the broader societal and political struggles surrounding reproductive rights and women's bodies. The film will explore the filmmaker’s personal struggle with infertility and the characters she meets in her journey through the surreal landscape of fertility mythology, egg harvesting, and surrogate birth.
Lead organizer: Anula Shetty

A photo of a dance hall. The edges of the room are lined with tables, there are a few couples dancing in the back. In the center there is a Black man, he is on his knees and appears to be mid-dance move. His arms are outstretched and his eyes are closed.

Dance Legends of Philly

Dance Legends of Philly (working title) follows a community of Black elders who continue to gather throughout the week for partnered dancing. This feature documentary will explore how the community has survived and how their dances reflect generations-old traditions that are at-risk. As the elders wonder how their dances will be passed down, we’ll hear and we’ll see why newer dances, in comparison, appear both so different and so alike.
Lead organizer: Cassie Owens

A simple graphic showing the words "coming soon" in white on a plain black background.

Della Can Fly!

Della Can Fly! is a supernatural sci-fi film that relieves a Black family from a misunderstood past. Traveling with her mom and dad to her late grandfather’s home for the first time, Amala, a curious, differently-abled 10-year-old girl downloads a new update to her smart glasses that manipulates a still image to move backward and forward.
Lead Organizer: Jasmine Lynea

A graphic, the background is a gradient of pink and purple. There is text that says "The Dolla Party. A film by Sherean D. Jones. Philadelphia. There is a scribbled outline of the Philadelphia skyline.

The Dolla Party

It’s the summer of 2002 in North Philly, and besties Desi, Amara, and Shay are determined to make it a night to remember by getting into the most anticipated party thrown by the neighborhood’s it girl!
Lead organizer: Sherean Jones

A black-and-white photo, it shows two Ethiopian people looking into the distance. There is a decorative cloth behind them.

GENET

GENET is a tribute to my long-lost sister through a film-based Documentary Installation project in which I capture Genet’s truly remarkable life. Living with HIV is still deeply misunderstood and stigmatized in the Ethiopian diaspora and even within our family. This work attempts to unsettle the culture of shame and stigma which isolates people from their families and creates cycles of harm and mistrust.
Lead Organizer: Sosena Solomon

A blurry hand on a turn table, photo in black and white

Hold It Down

Hold It Down is a music history document focusing on the DIY, site-specific characteristics of the West Philadelphia House Music scene from 1998 to 2006. The project briefly traces the cultural origins of this movement and the wider influence it has left on a global genre.
Lead Organizer: Rashid Zakat

A close-up photo of a green tomato plant. There are three small round green tomatoes on the stem of the plant.

I Spoke to a Tomato Plant

I Spoke to a Tomato Plant is a documentary, which examines how Philadelphians use gardening as a means of healing trauma. Honing on the relational aspects of gardening, the film explores the different dimensions of how people reconnect to others, their community and themselves.
Lead Organizer: Christian Hayden

A simple graphic showing the words "coming soon" in white on a plain black background.

In the Wake

In the Wake (working title) is a meditative quotidian drama focused on the interior life of the family of a once glorious movement leader. The project will examine what life is like for the children and families of major cultural figures. What do they leave in their wake?
Lead organizer: Maori Karmael Holmes

John Coltrane Symposium

Founded in Philadelphia PA in 2019 by Dr. Anyabwile Love, The John Coltrane Symposium (JCS) is a community-centered intergenerational annual celebration of John Coltrane’s life and legacy. The goal of the JCS is to bring community and community-minded folk together to celebrate and ensure that the life, music and philosophies of John Coltrane remains alive across generations.

A simple graphic showing the words "coming soon" in white on a plain black background.

Joy Bank

Joy Bank, a documentary-feature film, follows pregnant women on the precipice of parenthood as they navigate the supports and limits of a no-strings-attached city subsidy.
Lead organizer: Cristin Stephens

kinkofa

kinkofa is the only digital family history platform intentionally designed to reconnect Black families. Through this, kinkofa brings generations together to uncover, record, and preserve their unique family stories with pride and dignity. Its documentary and public history projects amplify Black family history and shed light on the often-overlooked stories of descendant communities.
Lead organizers: Jourdan Brunson & Tameshia Rudd-Ridge

A photo of a bowl of soup, there is a steak knife laying across the bowl. Balanced on the knife is a candle. The candle is being lit.

La Casa De Luz

La Casa De Luz is a narrative feature currently in development at Botánica Pictures. Set in present day Puerto Rico, the film follows three generations of women as they embark on a journey of hardship, healing and reconciliation. Our story centers Afro Puerto Rican characters and the community care practices and rituals, passed down from one generation to the next, that have helped them not only to survive but thrive.
Lead organizers: Selina Morales and Alexis C. Garcia

A still from Ladybug shows a young Black woman running through a grassy field. She is wearing a red and black polka-dotted shirt and a white sheer cape.

Ladybug

Ladybug is an experimental, coming-of-age story about an anxious Black woman named Iris. Her grandmother's recent passing motivates Iris to confront her fear of judgment and finally leave her unfulfilling job. The story unfolds during Iris's morning walk to work, weaving in and out of her colorful inner thoughts as she struggles with grief, mortality, and indecision.
Lead organizer: Kelli Webber

A graphic that says "Lalibela. Community / Technology / Cinema / Expansion."

Lalibela

Lalibela is a new home for the production of film, television, music, technology, culture and community in the heart of Baltimore. Lalibela’s non-profit arm, LaliLabs is a laboratory for imaginative spatial praxis at the intersection of art, technology, and community-building.
Lead organizer: Guy Routte

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The Land Alchemists

Drawing from archival work from organizers, dancers, and farmers/gardeners as well as historical archival work of ceremonial dance forms (i.e. bomba, orisha dance, dabke, etc.), "The Land Alchemists" is a two hour immersive dance theater experience. As multi-media project it uses poetry, video, and live performance to explore how colonial logics within local non-profits and governmental entities perpetuate violence on the land and marginalized bodies in Philadelphia and in countries like the Congo and Palestine.
Lead organizer: E Morales-Williams

A still from One Magenta Afternoon. It shows a young Black boy sitting in a field with an older Black person. The older person has a soft expression on their face, the younger is looking at them with intrigue.

Lavender Boy

A Philadelphia boy obsessed with flowers, dirt and the occult, is queered by his ancestral ability to see ghosts. But when his only spiritual teacher passes away, he is left alone to help a heartbroken spirit on the journey reconnecting in love.
Lead organizers: Vernon Jordan III & Matthew Smith

A black-and-white photo of a man sitting with a baby girl. The girl is wearing a white dress and has a bow in her hair. She is clinging to the man, who is presumably her father.

A Lock of Hair

A Lock of Hair follows siblings on a quest to solve the mystery of who their paternal grandfather was. They have a hunch that this unanswered question contributed to their father's early death from heart disease, and their process of discovery links their spiritual intuition with the latest health science on epigenetics and intergenerational trauma.
Lead organizer: Amadee Braxton

A black-and-white photo of a group of people in a meeting room, they are looking at a white board and appear focused.

Love Jawns: A Writers Room

In 2022, Yolanda Wisher convened an intergenerational Writers Room. The Love Jawn: A Mixtape II writers room sessions held from April to June 2023 were attended by five emerging women writers. Each of the poets led customized, generative writing workshops to inspire the women’s writing and thinking about their personal and collective journeys. Wisher will now create a film that will focus on the tender, authentic connections between the women–both the writers and their mentors, illuminated and documented through the writers room sessions.
Lead organizer: Yolanda Wisher

A still from MAMABABY. It shows a collage of images, in the background is a close up of a young girls face, on top is a black metallic hand, it is holding a glass globe with the image of a young girl inside. There is a green tint over everything.

MAMABABY

MAMABABY is a fantastical coming-of-age: a bizarre body-meld time travel adventure of Baby’s quest to grow closer to her mama in the aftermath of her abortion - an abortion that reminds Mama of several of her own. It delves into the spiral of time, memory, love, and what it is to exist in a black femme body.
Lead organizer: Xenia Matthews

An old photo of two people seated in presumably a recording studio. One is a Black woman with a red headwrap.

The Mother of Black Music Month

The Mother of Black Music Month is a documentary that chronicles the life and legacy of Dyana Williams, a trailblazer in the music industry whose advocacy has left an indelible mark on Black music. This film will intertwine her personal journey with the broader historical and cultural evolution of Black music in America, offering a compelling narrative about resilience, cultural preservation, and activism.
Lead organizer: Maori Karmael Holmes

A photo of a man standing on the edge of a piece of land next to a river, presumably the Nile. He is dressed in white and is raising one hand. There are goats behind him.

The Nile Splits

In the months leading to a civil conflict, a filmmaker reunites with his family in Sudan after 15 years apart. As he uncovers his connection to an ancient tribe that has lived on the Nile for millennia, he probes for answers to a whimsical question: does the Nile split, or does it meet?
Lead organizer: Zuff Shoya

An image of two older Black people holding one another. Around the edges of the image is an oval frame.

SOFT

SOFT is a meditation on rest and liberation for Black women. Through intimate interviews, poetic imagery, archival footage, and interpretive movement, the film explores how the historical treatment of Black women, rooted in labor, control, and disposability, has shaped present-day exhaustion.
Lead organizer: Sarah Krusen

A black-and-white photo of a street corner. The photo is shot from above, it shows a sidewalk curb, a stop sign shadow, and a man walking. Graffitied on the sidewalk are the words "water ice".

Spirit of 52nd

Spirit on 52nd is an experimental moving portrait of a once-thriving Black business corridor in West Philadelphia grappling with change. By exploring competing ideas of the future of the neighborhood, the film asks us to question who "owns" the street? Who lays claim to its future?
Lead organizer: Raishad Momar Hardnett

Outdoor photo of a group of people sitting on a large grassy area. They sit on yoga mats and stretch their hands out in front of them.

Spirits Up!

Spirits Up! is a platform and mobile space prioritizing the empowerment of Black lives and communities via the creation of physical and digital environments that offer engagement through mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and art. By reclaiming and reframing alternative & holistic wellness for Black people through different touchpoints, we can begin closing the gaps that bar access to good health and well-being for these communities...all while pushing for Black Liberation.
Lead organizer: Sudan Green

...that's why He made momma

A brother and sister turn the camera on their great-grandmother and her 9 descendants in order to reimagine legacy after America’s latest recession. As the siblings sift through memories, they chronicle the ingenuity of generational single black motherhood and grapple with its inheritance.
Lead organizer: Lendl Tellington

A still from Tonada Menguante shows a woman standing in the middle of a foggy road. Their back is turned to us.

Tonada Menguante

The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela forced my family into exile, scattering us across the world in search of refuge. This displacement severed our bonds. Tonada Menguante, a 16mm experimental feature film, will serve as both a breathing multigenerational family photo album and an ode to the enduring kinship amidst crisis.
Lead organizer: Luis Arnias

A graphic with a cellphone, on it is an image of a fist pumping into the air. There is text that says "White Meat Appetizer."

White Meat: Appetizer

True story, beneath Washington Square Park in Philadelphia, lie buried the bodies of hundreds of enslaved people. What if, one night, they all came back from the dead as zombies, but they only ate white people? Lead organizer: David Thomas

A graphic with the the words "With My Own Hands". Next to the text is an outline of a hand holding two flowers. The background is brown, the text and image outline are yellow.

With My Own Hands

With My Own Hands follows Mila, a young girl, as she slowly learns that she has been hexed by her aunt. Mila lives with her Aunt Mora and Uncle Hector who run a bodega and, below that, a gambling ring. She recently relocated to New York from Jamaica and so far things are going fine. But when she suddenly becomes ill at a family party, Mila must retrace her memories of the evening to uncover the true cause of her mysterious sickness.
Lead organizer: Tshay Williams

A blue-colorized image of Kayla Childs at Turtle Studios. She is in front of a keyboard, her eyes are closed and she is singing into a microphone.

Without Vision

Without Vision follows the trajectory of singer/songwriter/pianist Kayla Childs as she develops music and a live performance with Philadelphia up-and-coming jazz greats, multi-instrumentalists Nazir Ebo and Yesseh Furaha-Ali, and esteemed producer/drummer Steve McKie.
Lead organizer: Patrice Worthy

A simple graphic showing the words "coming soon" in white on a plain black background.

Untitled: Prisoners Film

Exploring incarceration and the history of prison activism through the letters of prisoners to their families and loved ones.
Lead Organizer: Nehad Khader

A photo of a Black person dancing at a club. They are wearing a white polo and a baseball cap. The photo is slightly blurry, there are colorful string lights glowing in the background.

You Don't Have To Go Home But...

You Don’t Have To Go Home But... is an experimental documentary film about the legendary Philadelphia Hip Hop party Second Sundae and the dancing people who attend. The film reflects 8 years of footage shot at the party alongside portraits of bboys/DJs/hitters/house dancers/teaching artists/community OGs in an attempt to answer the question: “What does a dancer do when they’re not at the club?”
Lead Organizer: Aidan Un

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