The 2027 PAM CUT Sustainability Labs will take place May 21-28, 2027.
Applications are now open!
Deadline to apply is Jan 4th at 5pm PST.
There is a $30 fee to apply (if you feel like you might qualify for a waiver, or discount, please reach out to Head of Artist Services Ben Popp – ben@pamcut.org)
The PAM CUT Sustainability Labs focuses on US-based creators, artists, directors, and producers looking to heighten their personal models of creative, financial, and business sustainability. This three-month program is designed to support talented media storytellers. Artists receive support, resources, and connections to professional opportunities to diversify and thrive creatively, financially, and personally.
Each artist receives a $3,000 stipend and is assigned a mentor in line with their creative visions. Artists also have access to renowned producer and media industry career coach Kisha Cameron, who’s worked with artists at the Sundance Institute, Film Independent, and The Gotham. Furthermore, selected artists will take part in specialized workshops on topics such as marketing, self promotion, creative distribution, financing, professional opportunities, and more, while touring artist studios, galleries, creative agencies, meeting with curators and programmers, and seeing some of the wonderful things Portland has to offer.
A few of the PAM CUT Sustainability Lab’s past mentors and speakers include:
- Filmmaker and Live Storyteller – Sam Green
- Filmmaker, Producer, and Playwright – Radha Blank
- Filmmaker, Producer, and Educator – Jennifer Reeder
- Director of Emerging Media for Black Public Media – Lisa Osborne
- Immersive Storyteller – Lance Weiler
- Expanded Cinema Animator – Rose Bond
- Emmy Nominated Producer – Janice Williams
- Emmy Nominated Producer – David Cress
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
About PAM CUT Sustainability Labs
Why now?
Successfully making a cinematic art form is a feat in and of itself, but sustaining a career in the film and media industry continues to be difficult because of lack of access to mentors, industry leaders, tools, and strategies necessary in communities outside of major cities. The Lab is a program that uniquely prioritizes holistic career advancement and sustainability over singular project completion. The Lab will act as a catalyst for select artists, our community, and the ecosystem at large.
Despite Portland’s unique and thriving creative scene, PAM CUT’s Sustainability Labs came from a deep need to help talented, multidisciplinary media storytellers receive the support, resources, and connections to a variety of professional opportunities necessary to thrive creatively, financially, and personally in this ever-changing landscape.
How’s it different?
The program focuses on a more “cinema unbound” approach, embracing artists’ multiplicities and de-siloing modes of storytelling to provide greater opportunity and access. Serving five mid-career storytellers working in a variety of mediums (film, television, animation, artists working in XR, audio, new media or hybrid forms, etc.), the Lab is created to help those in search of guidance on the next steps of harnessing and expanding their creative and business talents across multiple platforms.
This will include individual, bespoke support on business plans, project and personal financial planning, creative brand expansion, growth opportunities as well as small group sessions on mental health, balance, and personal sustainability. In order for the Labs to be a sustainable program for artists to participate, a $3,000 stipend will be provided, as well as travel and lodging to Portland and a ticket to the 2027 Cinema Unbound Awards.
Ultimately, the Labs are focused on improving equity, creative diversity, and sustainability in cinematic storytelling in all its forms. In our ongoing commitment to inclusion in media arts, at least 50% of artists who participate in the Sustainability Labs will be representative of marginalized or underrepresented communities (Black, indigenous, artists of color, women artists, trans/nonbinary artists). We’ll also bring together both NW artists and international artists, uplifting the region’s talent to a global scale and creating long-lasting interconnected cohorts that can support one another now and into the future.
Who’s the Lab for?
US Creators, artists, directors, and producers looking to change their personal model of creative financial and business sustainability. Mid-career artists and storytellers are preferred, with a minimum of one significant project completed in at least two disciplines or mediums. If the applicant has completed a project and is in significant development in a new medium, form, or format, they’ll be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The Labs take place in three sections:
- Invitation to PAM CUT’s annual gala, the Cinema Unbound Awards
- Five-day intensive with professional mentors, coach, and guest presenters to isolate professional needs, set goals, and strategize a sustainable path forward, culminating in pitching to a select group of professionals
- Personal check-ins with your mentor to track progress and make adjustments as necessary
Do I need an active project to focus on?
Unlike other labs that focus on project-based development, this Lab is for career, creative, and personal development. We’ll certainly talk about your projects, goals, and upcoming opportunities, but the focus will be squarely on you.
How does it work?
Working with professional mentors, career coach, and guest presenters, participants will open doors to their own unique potentials and skills. They’ll establish tangible short and long-term goals to ensure that their creative, financial, and personal sustainability is maintained.
- Individual goal setting and project management consulting for an existing project
- Personal brand building & audience engagement strategy
- Goal setting for career sustainability (i.e. expanded access to job opportunities, meetings with key industry leaders, pitching and key marketing materials, improved connectivity within the NW and introductions to global marketplace leadership, agency or gallery representation, etc.)
- Financial forecasting & sustainability (career coaching, goal setting, setting up LLC/business plans, debt management, etc.).
FAQs
What if I choose to participate remotely?
Participants will receive a stipend for participating which includes travel and lodging. If one is unable to attend in-person PAM CUT is making plans for inclusion regardless.
What is the timeline? When do I find out if I am selected?
The 2027 Sustainability Labs will take place May 21 – 28, 2027. if you have any questions, reach out out to Head of Artist Services, Ben Popp at ben@pamcut.org.
How much does it cost?
There’s an administrative $30 application fee. Please reach out if the cost is a barrier to your participation.
For questions, to request the application in a different format, or accessibility questions, please contact Ben Popp, Head of Artist Services – ben@pamcut.org
Quotes from past Fellows
Angela Washko (2021) – “Sustainability Labs for me was nothing short of incredible,” she said in an interview with Willamette Week. “There were actual tangible results from that lab, which I can’t say is always true for every professional development workshop I’ve participated in.”
Jamal Ademola (2022) – “I had the good fortune of participating in the 2022–23 Sustainability Labs, which was a life-altering fellowship. When I arrived, I was at a crossroads and wondered if I should change directions. From the informative industry workshops to the meaningful connections with mentors, the labs gave me the insight and endurance to sustain my creative and filmmaking practice. Now more than ever, with the defunding of public media, the NEA, and other vital programs that support artists and filmmakers, programs like the Sustainability Labs are a crucial spark that helps keep an artist’s heart aflame.”
Carla Forte (2022) – “The Lab program offered me an incredibly transformative space for my artistic practice. The mentorship, activities, community, and support allowed me to deepen my work and take creative risks in ways that continue to shape my projects today.”
Ariel Baska (2022) – “My time at the PAMCUT Sustainability Lab was where I learned how to level up my career and start moving with intention, as more than a filmmaker, as a change-maker.”
Ronak Shah (2025) – “The Sustainability Labs changed me in ways that I didn’t recognize right away. The transformation was gradual and almost quiet, but it became undeniable over time. I began to trust my voice and talents in a deeper way. I learned to believe in myself more, value my abilities, and let myself imagine dreams bigger than I had previously allowed myself. More importantly, I followed through on them. The mentors I met through the Labs remain an essential part of my life. Their guidance, generosity, and belief in me continue to inspire, encourage, and challenge me.”
Veronica Graham (2026) – “While the desire for stability initially led me to make safe creative choices, it ultimately stifled my growth. My time in the lab shifted this paradigm, proving that the greatest rewards require a willingness to take risks.”
Peter Burr (2026) – “PAM CUT’s labs treat sustainability as the focus, not the byproduct. That’s genuinely rare, and it’s exactly what the field needs more of.”
Mai Ide (2026) – “Louise Bourgeois reminds us that sewing is a claim to forgiveness. In the Sustainability Lab, I extend this idea into a broader understanding of sustainability — not only ecological, but cultural and emotional. Each stitch becomes a way of sustaining memory, sustaining community, sustaining the self. My work in the Lab explores repair as a long‑term practice of care.”