Back to All News
Illuminative and Netflix Announce Cohort of Indigenous Producers Set to Participate in the First Ever Illuminative Producers Program
Social Impact
27 April 2022
United States
The IllumiNative Producers Program will provide eight early and mid-career Indigenous producers with a year-long training program to help advance their trajectories in the industry
Los Angeles, CA (April 27, 2022) - Today, Native woman-led racial and social justice organization IllumiNative and Netflix announced the cohort of eight Indigenous producers set to participate in the first-ever IllumiNative Producers Program. Throughout this year-long program, the Fellows will develop a current project, attend monthly workshops, and have access to network-building opportunities with their cohort as well as mentors and leaders in the industry. Fellows will also receive a $25,000 grant to support their work, in addition to creative feedback and mentorship as they develop their project.
Officially kicking off today, the program was launched in December 2021 in partnership between IllumiNative and Netflix as part of Netflix's Fund for Creative Equity, an effort to help create more behind-the-camera opportunities for underrepresented communities within the TV and film industries.
We're thrilled to announce the eight fellows selected to participate in the first-ever IllumiNative Producers Program, said Crystal Echo Hawk, founder and executive director of IllumiNative. For so long, Hollywood has been an accomplice to the institutionalized erasure of Native peoples. We launched this program to combat the historic lack of opportunity and investment in Native storytellers and to support the next generation of Indigenous producers. We're looking forward to a dynamic and collaborative program and are grateful to our partners at Netflix who are helping us equip Indigenous creatives with resources and tools to advance their careers in the entertainment industry.
"The Producers Program gives us the chance to change the trajectory of the entertainment industry, which for too long has excluded Native stories, said Leah Salgado, Chief Impact Officer of IllumiNative. This cohort of Indigenous producers showcases the complexity and diversity of our community, and it is our belief that investing in and supporting Native producers will increase Native representation and create new opportunities to champion Native storytellers and Native stories.
This cohort of eight early and mid-career Indigenous producers were selected from hundreds of applicants based on experience, their commitment to being a lifelong producer, and the type of project they were working on. The Fellows and their projects include:
Ashley Browning (Pueblos of Pojoaque)
Ashley Browning (she/her) is from the Pueblos of Pojoaque and Santa Clara.
LOVERS CYCLE
An overly optimistic young Native man struggles to accept the reality of his breakup that reluctantly plants him back to his family owned laundromat.
Taylor Hensel (Cherokee Nation)
Taylor Hensel (she/her) is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
(Where Are We Going?)
A mosaic of memories from elders about their relationship to their homelands, told in the Cherokee language.
Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neetsaii Gwichin)
Princess Daazhraii Johnson (she/her) is Neetsaii Gwichin and lives on the traditional territory of lower Tanana Dene in Alaska.
Narrative
Developing a narrative film centering Gwich'in culture and language.
Ivan MacDonald (Blackfeet)
Ivan MacDonald (he/him) is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe.
Buffalo Stone
Connected to Blackfeet culture and the iniskim, the stone that helps sing the buffalo back, the characters must navigate between past and present to overcome trauma.
Coyote Park (Yurok)
Coyote Park (he/they) is a 2Spirit transgender artist from the Kingdom of Hawai'i, based in Tongva Territory Los Angeles, California . Their cultural roots are within the Pacific diaspora, as they are mixed Korean, German, and Yurok (Native to Northern California).
Destiny in Sedona
Destiny in Sedona is a feature film following two old lovers, a rough edged trucker and a shapeshifting drifter, on a road trip from California to Arizona, and their venture intertwining with the lives of their lovelorn queer family.
Blake Pickens (Chickasaw)
Blake Pickens (he/him) is Chickasaw, based in Los Angeles.
The Hermit
In present day Kentucky, a Chickasaw Catholic Priest is investigating a legend that there's a hermit guarding an ancient holy relic in the Appalachian hills. A folk myth.
Mato Standing Soldier (Oglala Lakota)
Mato Standing Soldier (AKA Mato Wayuhi) (he/him) is an Oglala Lakota artist from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Re:Locate
In 1962, three siblings from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota relocate to Los Angeles in search of greater opportunity than their people have ever known.
Kekama Amona (he/him) Kanaka Maoli | O'ahu, Hawaii
Scott W. Kekama Amona (he/him), born and raised on the island of O ahu, is an educator turned award-winning Kanaka Maoli filmmaker, whose creative approach and content centers on the Hawaiian value of makawalu (eight-eyes), a multiple-perspective mindset.
The Man and the Tree
A Hawaiian family comes together to prepare ceremonially for their elder's transition from this world and, in the process, reaffirms their inherent connection to their land and the reciprocal cycle of life.
To learn more about the IllumiNative Producers Program, please visit: https://illuminatives.org/the-future-is-indigenous/
ABOUT ILLUMINATIVE
IllumiNative is a Native woman-led racial and social justice organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of-and challenging the narrative about-Native peoples. Our mission is to build power for Native peoples by amplifying contempora
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Back to All News
