NFF Selects Cohort in Mellon-Funded Initiative to Strengthen and Build Resilience for Community-led Audio and/or Audio-Visual Preservation Organizations

October 23, 2024

Through generous support from the Mellon Foundation NFF is excited to share the application results for its three-year initiative, Investing in Resilience. The following cohort of ten organizations were selected through a highly competitive application process following several months of deliberation and input from our Advisory Committee.

NFF will work with these 10 organizations over a three-year period to build organizational capacity with the goal of creating more adaptable organizations that carry on the important work of preserving and providing access to audio and/or audio-visual materials that tell the story and experiences of communities that have been underrepresented in mainstream historical records and media.

The integrated program will include convenings and peer learning, customized consulting to support planning for growth and adaptability, a participation grant, and the opportunity to apply to the Mellon Foundation for change capital that will support business model shifts and build long-term resilience. To continue informing ways to improve the field, this initiative is designed to disseminate learnings broadly to the field, sharing successes and challenges in real time, and offering models that other audio and/or audio-visual preservation organizations can use to develop financial strength and adaptability.    

In Gratitude

NFF thanks all the individuals who volunteered their time and expertise, over the past few months. Specifically, we wanted to thank the following members of our Advisory Committee who offered us deep insight and thought partnership throughout the design and selection process:

  • May Hong HaDuong
  • Howard Besser
  • Kathleen Fitzpatrick
  • Mills Kelly


About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.

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