We awarded Zack King a grant in the summer of 2020, and he used those funds to create an incredibly moving and powerful dance film on the importance of voting:

During this past calendar year, I was able to make substantial progress towards my grant purpose. Through the William Male Foundation, I was able to fully fund the production of Soul of a Nation. This dance film was a collaboration with San Diego based non-profit Disco Riot as a part of their Move American PSA campaign. This campaign brought together artists from all over the country to produce nine dance films. A film was published every week leading up to the 2020 presidential election. With the support of the William Male Foundation I was able to pay four dancers, a production assistant and composer, a director, as well as a cinematographer and editor to create this film. I would also like to highlight the generosity of my collaborator, Nhu Nguyen, who directed and danced in the film. Because they have been able to keep their job through the pandemic, they opted out of receiving a dancer stipend in hopes that the funding might further support my artistic development.

Zack is using the other portion of grant funds to develop skills to position himself as a filmmaker. He is taking classes in cinema lighting, cinema business, TV writing, and acting. Through these classes, he's able to meet and establish working relationships with people already working in the field. He told us, "I want to have the skills and adaptability to work with different people in different situations and still create beautiful, impactful art." We look forward to seeing more of Zack's films in the near future.