Traces of the Trade » Partners and Supporters

Community Engagement

We are excited to be working with the following partners on community engagement efforts:

The Project on Inequality and the Common Good of the Institute for Policy Studies focuses on the dangers that growing inequality poses for U.S. democracy, economic health and civic life. They are providing materials and avenues for viewers to engage in addressing the racial wealth divide.

The Freedom Schooner Amistad sails the world as a symbol of freedom, justice and human cooperation among all races and religions. We are excited to be partnering with them as the Amistad visits ports on the East Coast in the months ahead: Halifax; Portland; Boston; Nantucket; Martha’s Vinyard; New York; Washington, DC and Baltimore. We will be part of the shore-side programming—using the film for interracial dialogue in each location.

This fall, the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade with public programs around the state, pairing Traces of the Trade with archival and other historical materials to stimulate discussion about the centrality of the business of slavery to the Massachusetts economy in the period between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. The program is funded, in part, by a “We the People” grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Rhode Island for Community and Justice (RICJ) is the lead organizer of screenings and dialogues of Traces of the Trade in Rhode Island. RICJ is a social justice organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry and racism and promoting understanding and respect among all races, religions and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution and education. Stay tuned at their website for local screenings.

The Episcopal Diocese of New York Reparations Committee is working with us to develop companion resource materials for use in their Dioceses and in Episcopal congregations across the country, in support of the slavery atonement resolutions passed by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in June 2006.

We are partnered with the Unitarian Universalist Association and the UU organization Allies for Racial Equity on the development and dissemination of companion materials for Unitarian congregations, in support of the truth and reconciliation responsive resolution that passed at General Assembly in June 2007.

Additional partnerships are in development.

Filmmaking

Traces of the Trade was produced in association with WGBH-Boston, where the team was based as Filmmakers-in-Residence during part of post-production.

Fiscal sponsorship is provided by the Film Arts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) media arts organization in San Francisco, California.

Gracious support has also been provided by the Episcopal Divinity School.

Funders

We are grateful to our many financial contributors:

Akonadi Foundation
Animating Democracy Initiative (a project of Americans for the Arts, funded by the Ford Foundation)
Butler Family Fund
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Coolidge Family Fund, Boston Foundation
Nathan Cummings Foundation
Dainger Fund, Boston Foundation
Episcopal Church, Social Justice Office (and several Dioceses and organizations/offices)
Fetzer Institute
Ford Foundation
Independent Television Service
Kealy Family Foundation
Lear Family Foundation
LEF Foundation
Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
Philadelphia Foundation
Prince Charitable Trusts
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities
Rhode Island Foundation
Sundance Institute Documentary Fund
Three Dog Farm Foundation
Threshold Foundation
Trinity Grants Program
Unitarian Universalist Funding Program
Archie D. & Bertha H. Walker Foundation
And many individual donors to whom we are also so grateful