The Wallace Foundation to Receive GFEM’s First-Ever Woodward A. Wickham Award for Excellence in Media Philanthropy

[Source: Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media, April 21, 2010]

Baltimore, MD - Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media is pleased to announce The Wallace Foundation as the recipient of the inaugural Woodward A. Wickham Award for Excellence in Media Philanthropy.  The award will be bestowed on June 9, 2010 in New York.

The Woodward A. Wickham Award recognizes a foundation that has demonstrated vision in its media grantmaking.  Named after the late Woodward A. Wickham, Vice President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the award is awarded to grantmakers who best exemplify Mr. Wickham’s creative, often courageous grantmaking, coupled with his commitment to social issue media and universal access.

It is through this lens that The Wallace Foundation was identified as the first recipient of the award for its support of The Principal Story, a documentary film that paints a dramatic portrait of the challenges facing America's public schools — and of the great impact dedicated education leadership can make in the lives of our children, communities, and our nation.  The film, produced by Chicago filmmakers Tod Lending and David Mrazek, premiered on the PBS series POV on September 15, 2009.

The Wallace Foundation is committed to education leadership initiatives – so why fund a film?  Jessica Schwartz, the foundation’s Senior Communications Officer, says that even though the foundation did not have a background in funding media they wanted to use the most effective tool to reach their target audiences.  “We realized that we needed to reach out to groups who had a say in education policy, but who were less aware of what we had learned about effective school leadership – that without it, school improvement efforts were likely to fail. To reach these audiences, a documentary film would be most useful.”

The Wallace Foundation displayed exceptional foresight and courage by electing to fully fund a film rather than issue a print report on education leadership.

In addition to supporting The Principal Story, visionary philanthropy has been demonstrated by Wallace through its funding of a comprehensive outreach and engagement plan to accompany the film. The foundation fully supported a campaign designed for key education leaders and reform stakeholders to freely distribute DVDs and ancillary materials throughout our nation’s education sector.  The project’s outreach partners include the American Association of School Administrators, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Governors Association and the National Staff Development Council. The film’s web site – www.wallacefoundation.org/principalstory – created by the foundation to accompany the project ensures that educators here in America and around the globe will have unfettered access to essential information to assist them in their goals to improve education.  To date, 25,000  copies of the outreach DVD have been distributed to principals and aspiring principals, superintendents and boards of education, opinion leaders in policy and research, schools of education and principal training organizations, media and the education funding community, as well as every American Embassy around the globe.

Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media is pleased to honor The Wallace Foundation with the very first Woodward A. Wickham Award for Excellence in Media Philanthropy and urges other foundations to engage in the innovative use of independent media to improve our global communities.

About The Principal Story
This intimate, one-year journey is seen through the eyes of two dynamic principals: one in only her second year in the Chicago Public School System; and the other, a seven-year veteran in Springfield, Illinois. The Principal Story shows how these leaders keep their focus on improving teaching and learning amid the competing demands of managing their staffs, as well as the social and emotional issues surrounding their students and communities. The film reveals the complex social and political connections among children, parents, teachers, principals and superintendents. Poignantly, it shows the heart, commitment and skill that are required for successfully leading and improving public schools in which more than 85 percent of students come from families living below the poverty-line. The Principal Story is a Nomadic Pictures’ film, produced and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Tod Lending and award-winning filmmaker David Mrazek. For more about the film and related video and print resources, visit www.wallacefoundation.org/principalstory.

About Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media
Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM) is an association of grantmakers committed to advancing the field of media arts and public interest media funding.  It serves as a resource for grantmakers who fund media content, infrastructure, and policy, as well as for those who employ media to further their program goals.  GFEM members reflect a wide range of interests and approaches, but share a common interest in the key role media play in building public will and shaping civil society.  GFEM is an affinity group of the Council on Foundations. 

About The Wallace Foundation
Among the top 40 private U.S. foundations with assets of more than $1.2 billion, The Wallace Foundation seeks to develop effective ways to surround children with learning and enrichment opportunities, both in and out of school.  In particular, the foundation is focusing on improving the quality of schools (by improving school leadership, and by making it more attractive for talented teachers and principals to work in our lowest-performing schools); improving the quality of and access to out-of-school-time programs (including summer learning); and integrating in-school and out-of-school learning (including expanding learning time and increasing access to and equitable distribution of quality arts learning).  For more information and research on these issues, visit the foundation’s Knowledge Center at www.wallacefoundation.org.