Altering perceptions
Cara Mertes discusses how the Ford Foundation's JustFilms initiative tackles the challenges of nonfiction storytelling, and helps create narratives that transform perceptions and change history.
Published on The State of SIE | MARCH 13, 2019
Altering Perceptions
By Cara Mertes
Ford Foundation strategy rests on the five key drivers of inequality it perceives: persistent prejudice; cultural narratives that undermine fairness and inclusion; unequal access to government; unfair rules of the economy; and failure to protect public goods.
Following this, there is a generation of thought leaders, creatives, funders, and social justice stakeholders who understand that culture itself has become a primary battleground for gaining and maintaining the power to effect progressive social change, and this demands new strategies. The principles of democracy are under duress around the world — therefore, popular cultural interventions also become part of a social justice foundation’s strategy to disrupt systems that reproduce inequality, modeling the values of justice, tolerance and equity.
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The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.