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Organization <br />Description <br />The Cosmic Rays Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that presents the <br />annual Cosmic Rays Film Festival. Our mission is to support and celebrate <br />experimental films and digital media art created by regional, national, and <br />global media artists; and to provide a venue in Orange County where a <br />diverse range of audiences can have access to this vital and expanding <br />area of the arts. <br />The first Cosmic Rays festival took place in 2018 at the Varsity Theatre in <br />downtown Chapel Hill. Since that time, Cosmic Rays has expanded its <br />programming and partnered with other local non-profit venues, including the <br />Morehead Planetarium on the campus of UNC where we presented a <br />program of digital videos commissioned for display on a planetarium dome; <br />the Nightlight and Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, local music venues where we <br />have presented curated live-cinema programs; Fatwood Studio, an artists' <br />project space near Carrboro where we have organized festival after-parties <br />and filmmakers' lunches; and Arts Everywhere, a comprehensive initiative <br />at UNC that collaborates with diverse partners to embed the arts into daily <br />life. During our last edition in 2023, we saw some 400 people attend our <br />screening and live-cinema programs. Based on our post-festival audience <br />survey, we determined that our festival's reach extends across Orange <br />County, the Triangle, and the state. <br />In addition to programming two nights of cinema art selected from over 500 <br />submissions from around North Carolina and the world, Cosmic Rays also <br />invites distinguished film programmers to curate thematic programs of work. <br />Visiting curators have included David Dinnell, former programmer of the <br />Ann Arbor Film Festival who brought a collection of 16mm films from the <br />Canyon Cinema archive that were made by feminist filmmakers; Aily Nash, <br />experimental programmer for the New York Film Festival, who presented <br />work commissioned for a planetarium; and Rachael Rakes, co-curator of <br />the Film Society at Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real, whose program entitled <br />“Forms Are Facts” focused on the groundbreaking experimental work of <br />contemporary female filmmakers-of-color. During our 5th edition, we were <br />able to invite Indian-American filmmaker Suneil Sanzgiri to present a <br />program of personal documentaries in which he contends with questions of <br />identity, heritage, culture and diaspora in relation to structural violence. <br />Since 2022, we have also created the Cosmic Rays Touring Festival. <br />Each year, we select films from the past festival and create a traveling <br />program of work. By partnering with screening venues across the country, <br />we are able to reach even more audiences, promote our festival's work, <br />and raise the profile of North Carolina artists' cinema. Our 2022-23 tour <br />included screenings at Union Docs in New York City; the International Film <br />Series in Boulder, Colorado; and the W exner Center for the Arts in <br />Columbus, Ohio. <br />The Cosmic Rays Foundation was established in June, 2022. Our board <br />consists of Sabine Gruffat (CEO), Bill Brown (President), and Kathie <br />Roberts (legal counsel). Our goal is to grow this board and our <br />organizational capacity in the coming years to ensure our festival's <br />sustainability. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 9534835E-C98C-4014-88B5-64907150F4B6