Organization

Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences. Through its programs, the Institute seeks to discover, support, and inspire independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to introduce audiences to their new work. History In 1981, Robert Redford gathered a group of his friends and colleagues in the mountains of Utah to create an environment designed to foster independence, discovery, and new voices in American film. That spring, ten emerging filmmakers were invited to the first Sundance Institute Filmmakers/Directors Lab where they worked with leading writers and directors to develop their original independent film projects. In the remote natural setting and removed from the pressures of the marketplace, each emerging artist was encouraged to take creative risks and to craft a film true to their own, unique vision. In 1984, the Institute's activities expanded to include development programs for theatre when the Utah Playwrights Conference became the Sundance Playwrights Lab. Since those first Labs, the Institute has grown into an internationally recognized resource for thousands of independent film, theatre, and music artists. The Institute's programs include the annual Sundance Film Festival, held in and around Park City, Utah each January and widely regarded as the premier U.S. showcase for American and international independent film. Through year-round support and a series of Labs, the Feature Film Program supports emerging independent screenwriters and directors through the development of their feature film projects. The Documentary Film Program assists nonfiction filmmakers from around the world with a series of workshops in editing, storytelling, and scoring for documentary films as well as providing grants to nonfiction film projects through the Sundance Documentary Fund. Connecting filmmakers with musicians, the Film Music Program's Composers Lab allows accomplished musicians to explore composing for film. With a series of Labs and retreats that provide a creative environment for playwrights, directors, composers, and librettists, to develop new work with dramaturgs and full casts, the Theatre Program supports the development of independent theatre. The Independent Producers Conference brings together emerging independent producers with established industry professionals for an intensive four-day conference that explores the ever-changing independent production landscape. Other special initiatives of the Institute include the Native American Initiative which facilitates the participation of Native and Indigenous artists in the Institute's artistic development programs and the Sundance Film Festival. The Institute also maintains the Sundance Collection at UCLA to conserve and archive the history of independent film.