Chicago-based nonprofit Open TV gets $2M in funding to expand independent storytelling
Open Television has secured over $2,000,000 in funding to usher in its next decade of impact following its 10th anniversary.
The investment comes from a diverse coalition of cultural funders with a significant portion recently awarded through a prestigious Ford Foundation five-year grant. This milestone reaffirms OTV’s role as a beacon for independent filmmakers and media artists.
“Now is the time to invest in systems that are working — systems built on care and imagination. The Ford Foundation’s long-term commitment grant is more than a vote of confidence; it’s an affirmation that sustainable, justice-centered storytelling is essential to our collective future,” said Elijah McKinnon, co-founder and executive director of Open Television. “An investment in OTV is an investment in the next decade of unfiltered storytelling where independent artists, not algorithms, shape the stories that define who we are and who we’re becoming.”
This next chapter of growth will be shepherded by two newly named co-chairs, Daya Lamolo, vice president of communications at Mozilla Foundation, and Karim Ahmad, founder of Utopia Studio.
Together, with OTV’s executive leadership team, they will guide the organization through a period of growth, innovation, and long-term sustainability.
“The role of OTV in this future is to create space for the next generation of artists, empower them to tell their stories, and provide them with the tools they need to succeed. And most importantly, we will continue to build a media ecosystem that is tethered to justice — everywhere, and one story at a time,” Lamolo said.
With this investment, restructured leadership, and a decade of proven success, OTV will expand programs and pathways for emerging filmmakers to produce, distribute, and sustain their work while scaling distribution efforts through the OTV App to ensure the preservation and visibility of intersectional stories that are often erased or silenced in mainstream media.
OTV will also launch a landmark archive project to preserve OTV’s 500-plus piece catalog — the largest known collection of contemporary short-form film and video art by independent and intersectional artists worldwide — and deepen solidarity across a growing coalition of local and global independent arts organizations.
“Institutions rooted in traditional systems of power do not change. We need to build new ones. Better ones. Like Elijah and Aymar did with OTV,” Ahmad said. “OTV thrives not in spite of, but because it’s rooted in something radically different than any other organization that exists under the sun.”
While many arts organizations are facing downsizing, censorship, and institutional pressure, OTV continues to rise — proving that creative ecosystems grounded in community care, intersectionality, and shared power can not only survive but thrive.
This funding milestone, also supported by Surdna Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative, Logan Foundation, and Soho House Foundation, is a watershed moment for this award-winning, one-of-a-kind organization.
About Open Television (OTV)
OPEN TELEVISION (OTV) is a nonprofit streaming platform and media incubator for intersectional storytelling, with artists and their creative visions at the center. Since launching in 2015 as a research project housed at Northwestern University, OTV has transformed the way the film and television industry supports independent artists and communities marginalized by their race, gender, sexuality, class, disability or nationality. Through intentional artistic development and holistic community development, the award-winning organization provides a network of care to identify, activate and mobilize the next generation of storytellers.
Download the #OTVApp on Apple, Android, Roku, and FireTV. Tap into a new wave on Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.