Marquette University and Milwaukee-based arts organization NO Studios have recently partnered to create the Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship program, according to a university news release.
The program will include two professional fellows who will each receive $2,500 and will be expected to finish their project within a year. Joe Brown, assistant professor of digital media and performing arts, said one fellow will focus on a Milwaukee-based social documentary and the other fellow will have an open fellowship, meaning he or she can create any type of film.
Applications to be a fellow are currently open, and will close Feb. 22, according to the release. Applicants should be local and have done some work in the film industry but not be hugely established, Brown said.
Fellows will be expected to take on at least one Marquette student for an internship opportunity, but two are encouraged, according to the release. Applications for internships have not yet opened. The fellowship is a new program. As of now, students will not get paid. Brown said it is possible in the future.
NO Studios is a Milwaukee organization which opened in October, according to its website. It is focused on art in the community and was founded by John Ridley, an American screenwriter and Academy Award winner for best adapted screenplay for the film “12 Years a Slave.”
NO Studios currently has an Artist in Residence program that is similar to the Emerging Filmmakers program, Lisa Caesar, chief operating officer at NO Studios, said. The program provides benefits from NO Studios, including office space and equipment, but unlike the Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship, it is not just limited to film.
“I’m hoping that we can mimic (our Artist in Residence program’s success) with the fellowship program,” Caesar said.
Brown said fellows will have access to Marquette equipment and NO Studios’ benefits and resources. They will also benefit from a shared office space in the MU Hub Office.
Kris Holodak, assistant professor of digital media and performing arts, said this fellowship will help with access to resources for emerging filmmakers.
Brown said decisions on fellows are made by multiple levels of committees.
The release said applicants will be notified of the decision March 15, and the fellowship will begin in April of this year and end in April 2020.
Holodak said a possible timeline for the fellows is pre-production through spring, filming in the summer — when Marquette’s resources are available most frequently — and then editing their project in the fall.
Fellows also are required to give two talks at Marquette about their projects, according to the release.
The fellows would give talks to digital media students who are doing similar work in their classes, Holodak said.
The partnership with NO Studios emerged because of Marquette’s growing media production program. Brown said NO Studios encourages collaboration.
“The environment at NO Studios is developed to be synergistic,” Brown said. “There are a lot of creative people there and co-working spaces.”
Brown said the fellowship is a unique opportunity for a mid-sized city like Milwaukee. He said spaces like NO Studios are uncommon outside of large cities like New York and Los Angeles.
“(The fellowship) is designed to help elevate the arts in Milwaukee,” Brown said.
