Macro and Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF) have announced the inaugural class of The Epigraph Creator Fellowship, a unique program that pairs filmmakers with frontier AI tools and integrates them into the creative process.
The selected fellows are Bianca Lambert, Chajtia Martin, John Barr, Justice Whitaker, Nick Barili, Suleiman Tahir, and Tedra Wilson. Their projects have been featured and reviewed at Tribeca, American Black Film Festival (ABFF), Slamdance, and Essence Film Festivals, as well as streaming platforms such as Amazon’s Prime Video, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Netflix.
Macro, a multi-platform entertainment company representing BIPOC voices and perspectives with projects such as “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “One of Them Days,” “Gentefied,” and “Sorry to Bother You,” has launched a fellowship program in partnership with a16z’s Cultural Leadership Fund (CLF), Silicon Valley’s first venture capital fund comprised entirely of Black cultural leaders and organizations dedicated to Black wealth creation. The premise is simple: “Creators who have always defined culture should have direct access to the technology tools that help shape how their stories are told,” according to a press release.
“Storytellers have always led the way, set direction and shaped culture,” said Stacey Walker King, chief brand officer at Macro, in announcing the inaugural course. “The Epigraph Creator Fellowship puts the power of today’s technology directly in their hands, allowing them to expand and build the worlds they envision. Technology doesn’t guide creativity; creators guide creativity, and now they have the tools to go even further.”
Judine Small Jean-Louis, partner at the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund, added, “Epigraph constructs meaning before a story even begins. We founded this fellowship because creators and technologists are shaping storytelling in real time, but often in silos. Epigraph brings them into the same room, creating true exposure for both and changing the way technology and culture converge.”
Epigraph Creator Fellows receive eight weeks of hands-on instruction and production resources, culminating in a public showcase of their original work at Macro’s Summer House Creator Summit this summer in Los Angeles. Program collaborators OpenAI, Celebrities, Gamma, Promise Studios, Descript, Coactive, and Curious Refuge will provide fellows with direct access to the platform and personalized mentorship to integrate these tools throughout their creative process.
For more information about the fellowship, please visit Epigraph’s website.
(Photo above, top row: Bianca Lambert, Chajtia Martin, Jon Barr, Justice Whitaker; bottom row: Nick Barili, Suleiman Tahir, Tedra Wilson)
