NEWS

MAY 2, 2025

Black Public Media selected a documentary about caregiving with comedy and two science fiction immersive projects for a total of $225,000 in production and development funding at the PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday. These awards catapult the total BPM has invested in Black projects through PitchBLACK, since launching the program in 2015, to over $2 million. The event, which was sponsored by Netflix and PBS, took place at The Apollo Stages at the Victoria in Harlem.

MARCH 11, 2025

HBCU Week NOW, a public media partnership project offering films about the incredible impact and contributions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, is announcing the launch of its inaugural Student Film Festival and an open call for submissions. The virtual festival, which will premiere during Black History Month in 2026, seeks short films created by HBCU students. The Harlem-based national media arts nonprofit Black Public Media will administer the open call for the project. 

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

The PitchBLACK Forum & Awards, Black Public Media's annual celebration of filmmaking and immersive media, is coming to Harlem this spring. The PitchBLACK Forum — the largest pitch competition of its kind in the United States for independent filmmakers and creative technologists who create Black content — will take place on Wednesday, April 30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Winners of up to $150,000 in production and distribution awards will be announced at the PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. BPM also will present its prestigious Trailblazer Award to history-making film editor Lillian E. Benson, ACE (American Cinema Editors), whose impressive filmography includes her Emmy® nominated work on Eyes on the Prize II, Showtime’s Soul Food, NBC’s Chicago Med and OWN’s Greenleaf. 

OCTOBER 29, 2024

Black Public Media, the Harlem-based national media arts nonprofit that funds, distributes and develops Black film, television and immersive projects, is propelling creative technologists and Black stories into the future. Determined to raise the visibility of Black makers who use technology to make art, films and experiences, the organization’s immersive media unit, BPMplus, returns to Torrents: New Links to Black Futures, a popular arts and culture festival produced annually by CulturalDC. Building on the success of its standing-room only 2023 Torrents panel, the arts nonprofit is expanding its BPMplus Art & Tech Showcase this year to include two panels, featuring seven makers from three continents. The free event, which takes place on Saturday, November 16, from noon to 4:30 p.m. will be held at and sponsored by Songbyrd Music House in Washington. A networking mixer will follow the showcase.

AUGUST 28, 2024

Black Public Media (BPM), the Harlem-based national media arts nonprofit, is spotlighting the environmental crisis in the third iteration of its award-winning series and social media campaign BE HEARD. BPM has commissioned Big Couch Entertainment for BE HEARD: #ShopLikeNana to alert the public of the environmental crises caused by fast fashion and to promote the advantages of up-styling used and vintage clothing. Premiering on Monday, September 9, during New York Fashion Week and presented by BPM in partnership with Paramount+, BE HEARD: #ShopLikeNana will be available to view on blackpublicmedia.org and BPM’s TikTok and other social media platforms.

AUGUST 20, 2024

Black Public Media (BPM) has issued its 2024 open call for projects that center Black culture, characters, communities and concerns. A total of $175,000 will be awarded this year to U.S. documentary projects currently in pre-production, production or post-production, and intended for public media distribution. The 2024 submission portal (https://blackpublicmedia.org/for-media-makers/bpm-open-call/) goes live on Tuesday, September 3, and closes on Monday, September 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Since its inception, BPM has invested more than $17 million toward iconic documentaries and emerging media projects about the global Black experience.

APRIL 26, 2024

Black Public Media (BPM) awarded a total of $610,000 to film and immersive projects and creatives at its seventh PitchBLACK Forum — the largest pitch competition for independent filmmakers and creative technologists developing new projects about the global Black experience — at the PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday. The figure was the highest ever amount awarded at PitchBLACK. Sponsored by Netflix and PBS, the event— held at The Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center — was hosted by Baltimore-based comedian
Sir Alex and included the presentation of the BPM Trailblazer Award to Emmy-winning filmmaker Sam Pollard.

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange, the award-winning series by Black Public Media (BPM) and WORLD, debuts season 16 on Monday, April 1. The series, renowned for its powerful documentaries, rebrands as the public media home for both documentary and narrative films about the global Black experience. In addition to real-life stories about fights for criminal and environmental justice in America, this season shines the spotlight on Kenya, with two prize-winning narrative films on redemption and resilient joy. AfroPoP premieres on WORLD, the WORLD YouTube Channel, the Black Public Media YouTube channel and the PBS App. New episodes premiere weekly on WORLD through April 22 and PBS Plus will distribute the series to PBS affiliate public television stations across the country beginning April 1.

DECEMBER 20, 2023

Black Public Media will pay tribute to veteran filmmaker Sam Pollard at its PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday, April 25. The ceremony, taking place at the Stanley H. Kantor Penthouse of Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, caps BPM’s seventh PitchBLACK Forum — the largest pitch competition of its kind in the United States for independent filmmakers and creative technologists who create Black content. PitchBLACK kicks
off on Wednesday, April 24 with participants competing for awards of up to $150,000 in
production and distribution awards for stories about the Black experience.

DECEMBER 18, 2023

As COVID-19 and seasonal flu activity is on the rise, Black
Public Media (BPM) is set to release two projects it commissioned targeting vaccine hesitancy in Michigan and North Carolina. The short film A Little Off the Top: Vaxxed Up by William D. Caballero and the three-episode Spanish language podcast Me Vacuno Porque… (I got vaccinated because…) by Antonio Alanis will premiere Monday on the Black Public Media (BPM) YouTube channel. BPM media is a national media arts nonprofit dedicated to creating and producing media content about the Black experience.

 JUNE 15, 2023

Black Public Media has received a $40,000 award from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Grants for Arts Projects program. The award will support its fellowship and residency program for new works in immersive, interactive and emerging media at the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The initiative is a part of BPMplus, Black Public Media’s program designed to increase Black participation in emerging tech storytelling, which was founded in 2018. The BPM project is one of 1,130 projects across the country, totaling more than $31 million, that were selected during the NEA’s second round of Grants for Arts Projects FY2023 funding cycle.

 MARCH 15, 2023

Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones and D-Man in the Waters kicks off season 15 of the popular documentary series AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange with a look into one of the seminal works from trailblazing choreographer-director Bill T. Jones. The film, by Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz, is the season opener for the public media series about culture and life across the African diaspora.

 JANUARY 18, 2023

The popular documentary series AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange is celebrating its landmark 15th season with a deep dive into Black art, the first time the series is presenting an entire season centered around a single theme. The award-winning public media series about Black culture and life, co-produced by Black Public Media (BPM) and WORLD Channel, will immerse viewers in the worlds of internationally recognized artists including trailblazing choreographer/dancer/director Bill T. Jones, international recording star and activist Angélique Kidjo, trailblazing visual artist Bill Traylor, traditional Mozambican dancer and storyteller Atanásio Nyusi, and iconic jazz musician Thelonious Monk.