Sundance Institute

The annual Sundance Film Festival, held each January in Park City, Utah, is widely recognized as the premier showcase for American and international independent film. Inclusive and eclectic in its programming approach, the festival has grown to include film culture events, panel discussions, youth programs, online exhibition, and live music. Attended by more than 50,000 people from around the world each year and with an online audience exceeding 1,000,000 users, the Sundance Film Festival creates a vibrant, unique community of artists and audiences that extends well beyond the mountains of Park City, Utah.

Since 1981, the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program has supported over 450 independent filmmakers whose distinctive, singular work has engaged audiences worldwide.  Program staff fully embrace the unique vision of each filmmaker, encouraging a rigorous creative process with a focus on original and deeply personal storytelling.  Each year, up to 25 emerging filmmakers from the U.S. and around the world participate in a year-round continuum of support which includes the Screenwriters and Directors Labs, Film Composers Lab, Creative Producing Summit, ongoing creative and strategic advice, significant production and post-production resources, the Rough-Cut Screening Initiative, a Screenplay Reading Series, and direct financial support through project-specific grants and artist fellowships.  In many cases, the Institute has helped the filmmakers attach producers and talent, secure financing, and assemble other significant resources to move their projects toward production and presentation.

Sundance Institute Theatre Program champions theatre artists and their plays as a source of vital and diverse ideas in society. The Program provides developmental opportunities rarely available to artists: to support artists throughout their careers, and ultimately to contribute to a meaningful cultural dialogue between artists and their audiences. Through its activities at the Theatre Lab (Utah), PLAYWRIGHTS RETREAT AT UCROSS (Wyoming), the THEATRE LAB AT WHITE OAK (Florida) and its INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE (East Africa), the Program identifies emerging theatre artists, contributes to the creative growth of established artists, and encourages the development of new work for the stage.