MOZILLA CREATIVE MEDIA GRANTS
This guide is intended as a resource for completing your application to the Creative Media Fund. Mozilla’s manifesto states that “Individuals’ security and privacy on the Internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional.” With this principle as our guide, Mozilla is seeking proposals for project funding from artists, media producers, and storytellers engaging audiences around issues of privacy and surveillance. We seek to support producers creating work on the web for a broad public, and who share Mozilla’s concern that the private communications of internet citizens are increasingly being monitored and monetized by state and corporate actors. As we move to an era of ubiquitous and connected digital technology, we see a vital role for media produced in the public interest that advocates for internet citizens being informed, empowered and in control of their digital lives. Applicants to the Creative Media Fund should submit an online Letter of Inquiry using Mozilla’s new grant portal at https://mozilla.fluxx.io You will start by submitting a registration form. This will allow you to get a username and password to Mozilla’s Fluxx portal. Once you have your login, you will be able to draft, save, and submit grant applications, as well as track any reporting deadlines. To register, visit https://mozilla.fluxx.io and click the ‘Create an account now’ button Once your registration has been approved, you will receive a registration email with login information. Creative Media Fund applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Before you apply, download our application guide. The guide, and the application form, are in English. We ask that producers apply in English.
Submitting Your Application Tips for Using Fluxx Important Notes What kind of projects are you looking for? How much funding is available?
Submitting your Letter of Intent :
Please follow these instructions to complete your Letter of Intent to the Creative Media Fund 1. Please visit https://mozilla.fluxx.io and use the login information provided in the registration email. 2. To begin your application, go to ‘Apply for Funding’ in the navigation on the left hand side of the Fluxx portal. On the Apply for Funding page, click the Apply button 3. Complete the Letter of Intent following the special guidance noted below.,
LETTER OF INTENT - GUIDELINES FOR THE CREATIVE MEDIA FUND ● ● ●
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To which grant program are you responding? ○ Select Creative Media Fund If you were invited to apply by a Mozilla staff member, please provide their name. Individual Applicant ○ Check this box, if the entity receiving the grant is an individual, not an organization. Organization ○ This field will already be populated with the information you provided at registration. Should you wish to update your organization information, go to ‘Organizations’ in the navigation on the left. Use the Edit button on the top right to make changes. Location ○ This field will already be populated with the organization information you provided at registration. Primary Contact ○ This field will already be populated with the information you provided at registration. Should you wish to update your contact information go to ‘ People’ in the navigation on the left. ○ To add a new primary contact, select ‘Add New’ Primary Signatory ○ This is the person with the authority to sign the grant agreement. ○ This field will already be populated with the primary contact information you provided at registration. Should you wish to change your primary signatory, select ‘Add New’ Type of Support ○ Select ‘Project Support’ Does this grant include a fiscal sponsor? Project Description (2500 Characters) ○ In this section, briefly:
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Tell us which aspect of privacy and surveillance your piece of media addresses, and why think this piece of media is an effective tool for raising awareness Describe your project. After reading it, we should understand and be able to explain to someone else. Make this portion sing! It should include: ● A two paragraph description ● A description of the user experience - what do they do?
Should you be invited to submit a full application, we will ask for additional details. The full application questions, with guidance specific to the Creative Media Fund, are listed in the next section. 4.
Submitting Your Full Application:
You will receive email notification if you have been selected to submit a full application The email will include a application deadline. If you have been invited to submit a full proposal, use your previously assigned username and password to login to https://mozilla.fluxx.io. You will find the full application under Drafts in the navigation on the left hand side of the grant portal.
General Information
This section reflects the information you submitted on your Letter of Intent. You do not need to update this section, unless these details have changed
Project Summary
This section reflects the information you submitted on your Letter if Intent. ● Review and update the budget, request amount, and project start date and duration as needed ● You do not need to update your Project Description
Project Support
In this section, please provide additional details on your project.
Describe the issue/problem you are trying to address (2500 Characters) ●
Tell us which aspect of privacy and surveillance your piece of media addresses, and why think this piece of media is an effective tool for raising awareness.
List key project activities (what will you do), outputs (what will be produced through your activities, e.g. products, publications, number workshops held and
people trained) and outcomes (impact of your project on your beneficiaries during the grant period). (5000 Characters)
Also include: ● This section needs to describe your project - after reading it, we should understand and be able to explain to someone else. Make this portion sing! It should include ○ A two paragraph description ○ A description of the user experience - what do they do?
Provide key indicators you plan to use to measure project outcomes and source of data. (2500 Characters) Also include: ● How will you measure how people have interacted with the project
Explain who will benefit from the project and how you will engage with them. (2500 Characters) Also include: ● Describe, specifically, the audience for this work.
Describe the geographic location(s) in which this project will be implemented. (2500 Characters) ● In addition to where the work will take place, help us understand which communities will be represented by this work
List any risks or challenges that may affect the overall success of your project, and note how Mozilla and/or others can help you to overcome these challenges. (1250 Characters)
List your project partners, if any, and the role they will play in the project. (2500 Characters)
Mozilla works in the open. How will you document and share your project progress with the community? (2500 Characters) Are other organizations working toward outcomes similar to those described in this proposal? If yes, explain how your work complements that of others or fills a key gap. (1250 Characters)
Describe how this project fits into your organization’s mission and goals. (1250 Characters)
How does this project contribute to a healthier Internet? (1250 Characters) ● ●
With which Internet health issue(s) does your project align? How does your project help to build a healthier future internet?
Is this a new project or a continuation? If new, please describe your qualifications to initiate the activity. If continued, please describe your accomplishments to date. Feel free to include links to articles and documents online that highlight your recent work. (1250 Characters) How will you continue work on this project beyond this funding period?
(1250 Characters) ● This question is less relevant, but you should describe the “end of life” for a project
Have you previously partnered with Mozilla? Have you previously received a grant from Mozilla? If so, please list title, amount, and purpose. (1250 Characters)
Attachments The following attachments are required for application to the Creative Media Fund: 1. Project budget 2. Project timeline (Note: please make a copy of this document to complete and attach with your application) 3. Letters of support from key collaborators/ partners 4. List of board members with affiliations (required, if applicable to your organization) 5. Fiscal sponsorship agreement (required if you are applying through a fiscal sponsor) 6. If applicant is a for-profit company, include a list of individuals or entities that own 25% or more of the company 7. If applicant is an NGO located outside the United States, provide evidence of legal status in your home country
Tips for Using Fluxx: ●
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The information you submit will not auto-save. Therefore, always save your draft using the ‘Save’ button at the top before returning to the main page or exiting Fluxx. This ensures that you can return to continue editing. Only click the Submit button when the page is complete. Once you submit, you will no longer be able to edit. The contact information included in your application is showing a s it appears in our database. If the information is not accurate, you can update it by clicking ‘E dit’. Fluxx is not mobile friendly. Plan to complete your application using a laptop or desktop computer. If you need additional assistance, please reach out to Brett Gaylor, Commissioning Editor for Advocacy Media.
[email protected]
Important Notes: ● ● ●
All registrations and submissions must be in English. All submissions are final upon upload to the Mozilla’s Fluxx portal. No responsibility is assumed for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, illegible, incorrect, inaccurate or misdirected registrations or submissions; or for any error, human, technical or otherwise, that may occur in the processing of submissions.
What kinds of projects is Mozilla seeking? Media works that are available on the web and intended for lay audiences. The work Mozilla will support via this call should also have a specific “Call to Action” that is asked of users - we measure the success of our funding by how many meaningful actions it encourages users to take. These actions don't have to be familiar advocacy actions such as signing petition - in fact, we encourage innovation in this area. We are more interested in how interactive media naturally lends itself to "doing" or "experiencing" an issue, and how these affordances can lend themselves to advocacy goals. The audiences for this work should be primarily in Europe and Latin America. While this does not preclude makers from other regions from applying, content and approach must be relevant to one of these two regions.
While we are seeking producers of multiple forms of media, we have a particular interest in: Interactive “explainers” Websites or web apps that explain issues by allowing users to manipulate content, solve puzzles, play games or otherwise interact in a non-linear and user defined manner. Some examples:
-Codemoji, a website developed for Mozilla’s encryption campaign where users can chose an emoji-based cypher to encrypt and send a message to a friend -To Build A Better Ballot, created by Niki Case, allows users to explore how different voting systems would lead to democratic representation Virtual Reality experiences 2016 saw many consumer devices come to market - but finding content for these systems that truly makes the best use of the medium can be challenging. We’d like to explore whether this medium can bring a fuller understanding to issues of privacy and surveillance. While not required, we are more interested in the potential of WebVR than of a particular platform. Some projects we are inspired by: http://www.notesonblindness.co.uk/vr/ A VR experience of how a blind man sees the world https://www.nytimes.com/video/the-daily-360 Daily 360 videos produced by the New York Times http://oscarraby.net/assent/ A Chilean man recounts the history of how his father witness a mass execution in Chile Short form video content for social media As video begins to overtake text as the publishing medium of choice, public media producers are adapting to an autoplay, scrolling world. In the battle for eyeballs, don’t hate the player, hate the game. Or change it. We’re impressed and now trying to emulate the work of A J Plus and Now This - what would you do with this format? Other formats If you have a project that fits outside of these formats, we also encourage you to apply! The only hard and fast rule is that it must be publicly available on the web, and concern topics of surveillance, privacy or digital security.
How much funding is available?
Development Early-stage projects in the idea phase. While the concept is promising, the details of the user experience and narrative have yet to be defined. Mozilla will support development ideas to a maximum of $10,000 USD. Production Projects that have defined their audience, narrative, user experience and creative vision. Mozilla will support production projects to a maximum of $35,000 USD. Who can apply? We encourage applications from producers at any stage of their career, producing in any format that is available on the web. Note that for this year, we have a priority focus on creators and audiences in Latin America and Europe. What are you *not* looking for? -Gallery work where people have to be physically present to have a full experience of the work. -Linear film work with no interactivity or online distribution -Projects that do not explore the themes of privacy or surveillance
