Press Releases

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

SSRC Announces Grants Totaling $180,000 for Six Media and Communications Projects

Next Round of Small Grant Proposals Due Oct. 15

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is pleased to announce six recipients of $30,000 'collaborative grants' in media and communications, on subjects ranging from Payola in the music industry to telecommunications rights in Brazil. The six projects bring together academic researchers with practitioners, advocates, and activists on issues central to creating a richer and more democratic public sphere. The grantees were chosen from a pool of 112 applicants.

The six projects are:

  • “Youth Channel All-City: Building a Municipal Infrastructure for Media Education, Production, and Distribution”
    Principal Investigators: Amy Bach and Rachel Kulick
    Partner: Manhattan Neighborhood Network Youth Channel
  • New Media and Empowerment of Communities of Color in the U.S. Urban Heartland
    Principal Investigators: Catherine Fosl and Jennifer Gregg
    Partner: Kentucky Jobs with Justice
  • Alternative Media and Democratic Praxis: A Study of the Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia
    Principal Investigators: Peter Funke and Todd Wolfson
    Partner: Media Mobilizing Project
  • The Convergence of Telecommunications and Consumers Rights in Brazil
    Principal Investigators: Luiz Fernando and Marrey Moncau
    Partner: Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (Brazilian Institute for Consumer Defense)
  • Measuring Noncommercial Radio’s Impact in Rural Communities
    Principal Investigator: Graciela Orozco
    Partner: National Federation of Community Broadcasters
  • Assessing the Impact of the Spitzer Payola Investigation
    Principal Investigator: Gabriel Rossman
    Partner: Future of Music Coalition

The Collaborative Grants project is part of the SSRC Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere program, which is supported by funding from the Ford Foundation. Now in its second year, the program seeks to foster a culture of collaboration between academic and advocacy communities, both in the United States and abroad, on issues of media policy, media reform and media justice.

The Collaborative Grants project awards small grants of up to $7,500 and large grants of up to $30,000 via an open competitive selection process. Grant selection is conducted by an external review committee, with representation from academic and advocacy communities. The next competition for small grants takes place this fall, with proposals due by October 15. For more information on the Small Grants Project, go to: http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/grants/small-grants-project.