Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/WikiHaus at 2026 Sundance Film Festival (ID: 23654323)
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Applicant Details
[edit]- Main Wikimedia username. (required)
jenny8lee
- 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.
WikiHaus at 2026 Sundance Film Festival
- 2. and 3. Proposed start and end dates for the proposal.
2025-01-16 - 2025-03-31
- 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)
Not applicable
- 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)
Wikimedia editor registrations have decreased by 35% since 2019 according to Wikimedia Foundation reports and presentations.
The natural wiki funnel over the last 20+ years of people arriving on the project websites, registering and becoming volunteers, seems to be in decline — partially impacted by LLMs and also content shifting away from the open web. A working hypothesis is should try to find people to engage people to have them register for and appreciate Wikipedia IRL. As a result, WikiHaus was officially born at SXSW 2025, codifying collaborative activities that had been taking place since 2023 at Sundance and SXSW around public engagement.
Film remains one the highest traffic categories on Wikipedia, with an enthusiastic editing community that would be eager to come to Sundance to help edit. Simultaneously, Sundance is one of the largest film festivals in the United States, attracting well over 70,000 people, many of whom would come through a Wikipedia activity.
At the 2026 Sundance Film Festival (the last one in Park City, Utah!), we would like to formalize activities that took place at Sundance 2024 (en:Wikipedia:Meetup/Utah/Wikipedia Day 2024) and 2025 (en:Wikipedia:Meetup/Utah/Wikipedia_Day_2025) and have more runway to plan a large-scale activities earlier, rather than on an impromptu basis.
A number of Wikipedians attended the Sundance Film Festival in 2024 and 2025, and did many things wiki including Wikipedia Day celebrations (with birthday cake), hosting a WikiPortraits Studios, giving lightning talks and training new editors. In 2024, we partnered with folks at BYU and drew local Wikipedians and the Wikicurious from across Utah to a film-themed editathon (thanks to a central notice banner). In 2025, we lead a Wikipedia Day which included a series of lightning talks about Wikipedia with speakers ranging from Rosie Stephenson Goodknight (User:Rosiestep) and PeaceRay (User:Peaceray). None of these activities in 2024 and 2025 were funded by the Wikimedia Foundation (whether through Rapid Grants or otherwise). They were self-funded, or piggybacked on other organizations’ budgets and graciousness to borrow space. But the palpable enthusiasm (over 1,000 registered for a WikiPortraits in 2025) made us realize that we could build a large activity for the public and formally call it a WikiHaus. With only a limited window for WikiPortraits, over 300 people came to the Sundance WikiPortraits studios to have their photo taken in a single day, waiting in line for quite a chunk of time. With more time, we could have substantially increased the Instead of having people simply wait in line, WikiHaus can use the waiting times to engage them with various wiki activities. These include helping people register on Wikipedia, explaining the mechanics of Neutral Point of View, having them play various wikigames such as WikiAsteroids, or getting Wikipedia receipts. This year, WikiPortraits will bring a dedicated studio photographer, allowing for longer window for the public to to register.
- 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 hosting at least one WikiHaus day full of activities ranging from Wikipedia Day to training to lightning talks.
This wraps in activities designed by AfroCROWD, WikiPortraits, Cascadia Wikimedians and Wikimedia NYC’s WikiCurious.
While WikiPortraits will cover the photographers to take studio photos, it does not have the resources to also have the interactive and training activities that WikiHaus has done at SXSW.
- Public engagement around Wikimedia Commons and getting people to register for Wikimedia accounts.
- “Ask a Wikipedian.” Explanation of how Wikipedia works, including Neutral Point of View, the need for citations, and the perennial source list.
- Setting up a wikigames station, including WikiAsteroids and Wikichain, while people work.
- Setting up a wikireceipt exhibit to generate printouts of Wikipedia articles.
Wikipedia Day celebration with local Utah Wikipedians (budget permiting) Depending on labor hosting a film-themed edit-a-thon, as we did in 2024.
- 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.
- How many people of the general public can we reach at a big festival if we made a concerted planned effort, vs just an impromptu one.
- Can people waiting for WikiPortraits Studio be converted to registered users. If so, how? (maybe by giving them priority in photos)
- Can we create standalone self-serve Wiki interactives, or do they have to be manned by Wikipedians.
- 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 a few main target populations for this project:
- General public who are curious about how Wikipedia works, including those who have questions around notability, neutral point of view and sourcing.
- People who want to a nice headshot and are willing to hang around and engage with activities.
- Publicists, who often have light misconceptions around Wikipedia, but sometimes they need to update or correct on Wikipedia on behalf of clients, and want to know how to do it.
How do we find people? People find activities during Sundance Film Festival and sign up when you give them a registration form, like on Eventbrite or Luma. In 2025, over 1,000 people signed up for WikiPortraits with minimal promotional push (and over 300 showed up for a photo). Eventbrite registration and WikiPortraits permissions generates a robust email list that we can follow up afterwards.
- 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.
This proposal grows out of pre-existing, slightly impromptu activities that took place at Sundance Film Festival in 2024 and 2025. These included an editing training session, lighting talks, WikiPortraits Studio and did many things wiki including Wikipedia Day celebrations (with birthday cake), hosting a WikiPortraits Studios, taking photos at red carpets and training new editors. In 2024, we partnered with folks at BYU and drew local Wikipedians and the Wikicurious from across Utah to a film-themed editathon. In 2025, the Wikipedia Day and held a series of lightning talks about Wikipedia with speakers ranging from Rosie Stephenson Goodknight (User:Rosiestep) and PeaceRay (User:Peaceray).
- 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)
Cultural background, ethnicity, religion, racial
- 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)
None of the above
Learning and metrics
[edit]- 17. What do you hope to learn from your work in this project or proposal? (required)
- How many people of the general public can we reach at a big festival if we made a concerted planned effort, vs just an impromptu one.
- Can people waiting for WikiPortraits Studio be converted to registered users. If so, how? (maybe by giving them priority in photos)
- Can we create standalone self-serve Wiki interactives, or do they have to be manned by Wikipedians.
- 18. What are your Wikimedia project targets in numbers (metrics)? (required)
| Other Metrics | Target | Optional description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 300 | Number of members of general public who come through the WikiHaus space. This can be as high as 500 if we find other budget |
| Number of editors | 15 | Wikipedia editors who are willing to come to Park City to help edit or give Wikipedia related lighting talks. |
| Number of organizers | 6 | Various people will organize pieces: editing, lightning talk, maybe birthday cake. |
| Wikimedia project | Number of content created or improved |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 20 |
| Wikimedia Commons | 200 |
| Wikidata | 50 |
| Wiktionary | |
| Wikisource | |
| Wikimedia Incubator | |
| Translatewiki | |
| MediaWiki | |
| Wikiquote | |
| Wikivoyage | |
| Wikibooks | |
| Wikiversity | |
| Wikinews | |
| Wikispecies | |
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
- Optional description for content contributions.
Photos are ones people upload from their phones
- 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)
- WMF Outreach Dashboard for people who registered in a certain time
- GLAM2MORGAN
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).