Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/2025 Sundance Film Festival WikiPortraits Initiative (ID: 22830299)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
everwest
- Organization
N/A
- If you are a group or organization leader, board member, president, executive director, or staff member at any Wikimedia group, affiliate, or Wikimedia Foundation, you are required to self-identify and present all roles. (required)
N/A
- Describe all relevant roles with the name of the group or organization and description of the role. (required)
Main Proposal
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal. This will also be the Meta-Wiki page title.
2025 Sundance Film Festival WikiPortraits Initiative
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-12-01 - 2025-02-02
- 4. Where will this proposal be implemented? (required)
United States of America
- 5. Are your activities part of a Wikimedia movement campaign, project, or event? If so, please select the relevant project or campaign. (required)
Other (please specify) WikiPortraits
- 6. What is the change you are trying to bring? What are the main challenges or problems you are trying to solve? Describe this change or challenges, as well as main approaches to achieve it. (required)
Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects prioritize and require using freely-licensed images. This presents a challenge when it comes to photos of notable people, because most published photos of notable people are press images with full copyright and non-permissive licenses. This results in a significant number of biographies with poor quality or no photos. This challenge is quite notable in itself, having been covered by various publications including the New York Times in their 2009 article, "Wikipedia May Be a Font of Facts, but It’s a Desert for Photos". While that article was written over a decade ago, the problem persists, so much so that @badwikiphotos is an account on Instagram, and Ebaum’s World has an article that is “23 Worst Wiki Photos of All Time.” The English Wikipedia category, "Wikipedia requested images of people", has over 5,000 articles in it.
An effective way to gather freely-licensed photos of notable figures at-scale is to go to where they are — festivals, awards ceremonies and conferences. Gage Skidmore is particularly notable for publishing freely-licensed photos of celebrities at pop culture conventions and political events. German Wikipedia has been covering the Berlin Film Festival with its Berlinale-Projekt since 2017.
We attended the Sundance Film Festival last year as a pilot and captured both photos of the press events and also ran a portrait studio for public engagement. Our 2024 WikiPortraits Sundance photos have been viewed over 2 million times so far. That lead us to apply for grants for a SXSW WikiPortraits Rapid Grant project, as well as Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Toronto International Film Festival, and the Nobel Prizes. In addition, we have covered notable journalists at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia.
Sundance is our original WikiPortraits event, and we would like to do two things there: take photographs of notable people for WikiPortraits, and also do public engagement events with the film community and local Utah community.
With this grant request, we will be subsidizing a group of experienced photographers and uploaders to attend the Sundance International Film Festival in 2025. As we did last year, WikiPortraits will help them obtain press credentials, sometimes in partnership with media organizations.
- 7. What are the planned activities? (required) Please provide a list of main activities. You can also add a link to the public page for your project where details about your project can be found. Alternatively, you can upload a timeline document. When the activities include partnerships, include details about your partners and planned partnerships.
For this project, we will be doing two main things:
First, we will help photographers obtain press credentials for Sundance Film Festival 2025 so they can take photos of casts and crews for the films.
Secondly, because there are a number of industry panels, we can send individuals to take photos of notable executives who may not have celebrity status, but have pages on Wikipedia.
Pending the budget and costs, we would like to host a WikiPortraits Studio party. This was highly successful at Sundance 2024 and SXSW 2024 where we took photos of 200-300 individuals at each event, many of whom learned about Wikimedia Commons and Creative Commons licensing. In addition to creating freely licensed photographs of people, these studios give us an opportunity to do Wikipedia outreach with the broader public. The Studio is also good because we can systematically partner with organizations to get underrepresented groups in for photos.
In addition, we will explore coordinating with local Utah Wikipedians to do a film-themed edit-a-thon, as we did last year for a Utah Wikipedia Day.
Please note that we are applying for a General Support Grant, if we get that and the Rapid Grant, we will likely push back the start date of our General Support Grant to February 2025.
- 8. Describe your team. Please provide their roles, Wikimedia Usernames and other details. (required) Include more details of the team, including their roles, usernames, Wikimedia group, and whether they are salaried, volunteers, consultants/contractors, etc. Team members involved in the grant application need to be aware of their involvement in the project.
- Jason Weinrich (User:Everwest): Jason was one of the original WikiPortraits photographers at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and the 2024 SXSW and has uploaded hundreds of photos on Wikipedia. He works as a professional photographer in Chico, California. (Volunteer)
- Kevin Payravi (User:SuperHamster): Kevin has contributed to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites since 2007, and is currently a co-organizer of WikiConference North America and Wiki Loves Monuments in the United States. He also serves on the Board of Wikimedia DC. (Volunteer)
- Jennifer 8. Lee (en:User:Jenny8lee): Jenny is a co-founder of WikiPortraits, an adviser to the Wikimedia NYC, a founder of WikiCred project, film producer, and an adviser to SXSW Interactive. She is a volunteer for this project, but will help coordinate the logistics and the press credentials. (Volunteer)
- Sara Komatsu (user:Saraa.kom). Sara is an active WikiPortraits contributor, having shot at Toronto Film Festival, and helped with logistics at Cannes, Sundance and SXSW. She is the key person for coordinating press credentials for WikiPortraits. (Admin. Volunteer.)
- Andrew Lih (([[User:Fuzhedo)): Lih is 2021 Wikimedia Laureate, an internationally-renowned Wikipedia expert, author, professor, GLAMs activist, and long-time Wikimedia contributor, including on Wikicommons photography. (Volunteer)
- Frank Sun (User:Xfranksun): Frank is a professional photographer and has been a WikiPortraits contributor since the creation of the project. His portraits from Cannes include Greta Gerwig, Lily Gladstone, and Chris Hemsworth, among others. (Volunteer)
- Jay Dixit (User:Jaydixit)): Jay is an experienced photographer who has contributed to WikiPortraits from SXSW, Sundance and International Journalism Festival.
- John Sears (User:Johnsearsmedia)), a professional videographer, has covered the Toronto International Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival for WikiPortraits.
- Haley Weinrich (User:JazzDolphin)). Help with the logistics of coordinating the shoots for the artists and WikiPortraits Studios.
- 9. Who are the target participants and from which community? How will you engage participants before and during the activities? How will you follow up with participants after the activities? (required)
There are two main target populations for this project:
Notable individuals who have Wikipedia articles, particularly ones lacking a photo or needing a better photo taken. With press credentials, we are able to cover the red carpet and the press conferences, which have notable numbers of celebrities from around the world. As a result, this project can help us obtain portraits of notable individuals from backgrounds that are commonly under-represented on Wikipedia, as well as individuals who are rising in their respective industries. Editors of individual biography pages across all languages who are looking for photos of the subjects. Our WikiPortraits photos have been used across over 100 language wikis with over 20 million monthly views across 600 images on almost 3000 pages. These include ruwiki, hewiki, rowiki, nowiki, ukwiki, elwiki, viwiki, dewiki, itwiki, svwiki, kowiki, zhwiki, jawiki, arwiki, arzwiki among many others. A WikiPortraits photo of Meryl Streep was pulled into Farsi wiki.
If we take individual portrait-style photos (in addition to the red carpet photos), we capture contact information through a release form powered by Harbour, and can follow-up with information about the results of this project. For individuals with Wikipedia articles, we can inform them if and when their biography has been updated with their new portrait.
- 10. Does your project involve work with children or youth? (required)
No
- 10.1. Please provide a link to your Youth Safety Policy. (required) If the proposal indicates direct contact with children or youth, you are required to outline compliance with international and local laws for working with children and youth, and provide a youth safety policy aligned with these laws. Read more here.
N/A
- 11. How did you discuss the idea of your project with your community members and/or any relevant groups? Please describe steps taken and provide links to any on-wiki community discussion(s) about the proposal. (required) You need to inform the community and/or group, discuss the project with them, and involve them in planning this proposal. You also need to align the activities with other projects happening in the planned area of implementation to ensure collaboration within the community.
Given that over 600 WikiPortraits photos were added on over 100 different language wikis, with a collective estimated 20 million monthly views in September 2024, we feel there is strong global community demand for what WikiPortraits is adding.
WikiPortraits has a presence on the Wikimedia Commons, at Commons:WikiPortraits. We have also created a meta page to catalog related efforts called Wiki Covers Events and to share best practices. Among notable related efforts are the German Berlinale-Projekt.
Wiki Covers Events + the WikiPortraits initiative has also been discussed within the GLAM Global Telegram group, which has over 200 community members.
We also attended the Wikimedia Hackathon in Tallinn, Estonia where we developed a gallery viewer and talked with other people around the world who are engaging in similar photo projects.
Our origin story, for background: the WikiPortraits idea was originally the brainchild of Andrew Lih, a past Wikimedian Laureate, who presented on a Wikimedia panel at SXSW 2023 with WMF CEO Maryana Iskander. Andrew has done similar self-funded photography efforts and book festivals and comicons and saw the potential of SXSW for doing that on a larger scale. He has socialized this WikiPortraits idea in the GLAM Telegram group, as well as on Meta Wiki.
Jenny also discussed the idea at 2024 Wikimania in Singapore with Frank Schulenburg, who is the founder of the Commons Photographers Users Group. He was so enthused that he decided to self-finance a trip to the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and obtained an assignment letter from Nadee Gunasena at the WMF, which was submitted to the Sundance Film Festival press office by Jennifer. This then led to our SXSW 2024 WikiPortraits project, which had its photos incorporated into 60 different wikis. We have since covered Cannes, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Venice Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and others. In many cases we are bringing new contributors into the Wikimovement. Of the 16 photographers WikiPortraits had in 2024 so far, two-thirds of them are new contributors to Wikimedia.
At Wikimania 2024 in Katowice, we also had 40 people; many Wikimedia Commons photographers attended our WikiPortraits panel. Many of them are already doing similar coverage in different parts of the world.
- 12. Does your proposal aim to work to bridge any of the content knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Content Gender gap
- 13. Does your proposal include any of these areas or thematic focus? Select one option that most applies to your work. (required)
Culture, heritage or GLAM
- 14. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities? Select one option that most apply to your work. (required)
Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background
- 15. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select one that most applies. (required)
Innovate in Free Knowledge
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
This project, in conjunction with our work at Sundance 2024, SXSW, Cannes and Edinburgh Fringe, helps to build a repeatable and scalable template for experienced Wikimedia Commons photographers to get press credentials at well-established internationally significant cultural events. Sundance is a unique festival because it emphasizes new diverse filmmakers, both in the US and globally, where the voices of those selected are elevated.
Each individual photographer is less “high stakes” since we can spread the work around multiple people and help them build a WikiPortraits portfolio.
Historically, volunteer Wikimedian photographers are not plugged into the media infrastructure that is built around credentials. With WikiPortraits’ track record, we now feel we can get a number of photographers credentialed for Sundance, starting with those who work as professional photographers but also adding those who are more emerging. So in 2025, we want to see if we can get these newer photographers credentialled.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
---|---|---|
Number of participants | 150 | 150 targets, at least 50 who have Wikipedia pages in need of a quality photo. |
Number of editors | 11 | We may have up to 7 photographers (varying credentialing), 4 data upload people:
Data
|
Number of organizers | 4 | 4 on the ground organizers: Jenny Lee, Sara Komatsu, Kevin Payravi, and Haley Weinrich. |
Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
---|---|
Wikipedia | 60 |
Wikimedia Commons | 450 |
Wikidata | 50 |
Wiktionary | |
Wikisource | |
Wikimedia Incubator | |
Translatewiki | |
MediaWiki | |
Wikiquote | |
Wikivoyage | |
Wikibooks | |
Wikiversity | |
Wikinews | |
Wikispecies | |
Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
450 photos of 150 people and scenes uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, which will likely be used in dozens of different language wikis.
- 19. Do you have any other project targets in numbers (metrics)? (optional)
No
Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
---|---|---|
N/A | N/A | N/A |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
- 20. What tools would you use to measure each metrics? Please refer to the guide for a list of tools. You can also write that you are not sure and need support. (required)
We would utilize a tool like BaGLAMa to measure how many pageviews our portraits receive over time through their inclusion on Wikipedia articles and other Wikimedia projects. This is how we know our 2024 photos are viewed up to 20 million times per month.
Financial proposal
[edit]- 21. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it. (required)
- 22. and 22.1. What is the amount you are requesting for this proposal? Please provide the amount in your local currency. (required)
5000 USD
- 22.2. Convert the amount requested into USD using the Oanda converter. This is done only to help you assess the USD equivalent of the requested amount. Your request should be between 500 - 5,000 USD.
5000 USD
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
Endorsements and Feedback
[edit]Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).