Synopsis
This project examines the future of public media in the United States, with a focus on sustaining independent documentary and community-rooted storytelling as vital resources for democracy. Building on the legacy of the 1967 Carnegie Commission’s Public Television: A Program for Action and Newton Minow’s “Television and the Public Interest” speech, the research will analyze structural inequities, funding vulnerabilities, and the rollback of public-interest programming. Through interviews, surveys, and convenings with filmmakers, policy experts, and media stakeholders, the project will develop a forward-looking blueprint to revitalize public media infrastructure. The blueprint will explore funding mechanisms, governance reforms, and innovative distribution models that strengthen opportunities for independent creators and ensure audiences have access to trusted, independent storytelling. Outcomes will include a publicly published research as a ‘Program for Action’ (a blueprint endorsed by cross-sector allies, such as filmmakers, cultural organizations, funders, educators, and community advocates), dissemination of the research findings through public presentations, and a set of recommendations created in collaboration with field experts. The ultimate goal is to catalyze collective action and inform future policymaking to ensure that public media continues to serve as a trusted, diverse, and democratic resource for all audiences. This research project is currently supported through a 2025 Documentary Film in the Public Interest Fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
Key Personnel
Jax Deluca is a cultural strategist with over two decades of leadership across public service and nonprofit arts organizations. Currently, she is the interim director for the Future Film Coalition, a newly formed national alliance dedicated to safeguarding and strengthening the independent film and media sector in the United States. In her previous role as the Director of Film & Media Arts at the National Endowment for the Arts (2016–2025), she oversaw a federal funding portfolio, spearheaded national initiatives, such as the Independent Media Arts Group (IMAG) in partnership with Sundance Institute and BAVC Media, and produced research offering critical insights into creative technology practices, field-wide infrastructure needs, and high-level challenges facing the indie film sector. She is a recipient of a Documentary Film in the Public Interest Fellowship at The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School (Fall 2025).
