Thank you to our wonderful community that has supported CAAM’s 41-year legacy of nurturing and elevating AAPI storytellers.
Through our Fellowship and talent development initiatives, CAAMFest, and public media, the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) fosters their careers and connect communities everywhere with their work.
Storytellers like filmmaker Set Hernandez Rongkilyo (they/them)—co-founder of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective and one of our 2021 Storytellers. They are among the estimated 10.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States (around 3.2% of the population)*. Together with their colleagues in the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective, they are centering the film expertise of undocumented people not only as sources of stories but also as creators, artists, and primary audiences.
As part of CAAM’s year-long Storytellers 2021 series, writer and filmmaker Lauren Kawana profiled Set, delving into their evolution as an artist and storyteller, and how they first connected with CAAM through our Talent Development and Special Projects Manager Sapana Sakya. For Giving Tuesday, Set shares how CAAM helped them receive much-needed critical funding from our Documentaries for Social Change Fund, with expanded eligibility for undocumented filmmakers.
“Many filmmaking grants have citizenship requirements that have excluded undocumented artists like myself. When I communicated with Sapana the need to expand opportunities at CAAM to be more inclusive of undocumented artists, she was so intentional in finding ways to remove these barriers for artists like myself. The first time I met with her to talk about unseen in late 2019, she took her time to discuss the project with me, and really encouraged me to apply for the Documentaries for Social Change Fund grant. The rest is history. After that initial funding I received from CAAM for unseen as a result of that conversation, I have received five more grants including a Sundance Documentary Film Program award. In a field full of noes and rejections, an initial yes like the one Sapana gave me is truly invaluable.”- Set Hernandez Rongkilyo
Your gift this Giving Tuesday will strengthen and sustain our vital work in empowering the next generation of storytellers like Set Hernandez Rongkilyo, foster greater empathy and understanding, and advance the community of authentic storytellers representing the ever-evolving American experience.
If you have the means, we hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation of any amount to help us reach our goal of raising $5,000 today.
Thanks to an anonymous CAAM Board Member, up to $2,500 of donations will be matched. Donate today at CAAMedia.org/Donate, and your gift will have twice the impact.
You can also donate using one of these methods:
- By credit card credit card over the phone by calling our Membership and Donor Relations Manager Jennifer Chu at at (415) 863 – 0814 x 102
- By check, made payable to the Center for Asian American Media with “Giving Tuesday” in the memo field and mailed to:
Center for Asian American Media
Attn: Development Department
145 Ninth Street, Suite 350
San Francisco, CA 94103-2641
If you have any questions, please email our Development team at events [AT] caamedia.org.
Thank you!
*Data from Pew Research Center’s August 2020 article, Key findings about U.S. immigrants (Abby Budiman).