Coolidge Corner Theatre Receives $763K Sloan Foundation Grant

BROOKLINE, MA — The Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline has received a $763,100 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to fund the national Science on Screen initiative, which awards grants to nonprofit cinemas, science museums, and arts organizations to develop or sustain their own Science on Screen programs.

Established in 2005 for Coolidge Corner Theatre audiences, Science on Screen creatively pairs feature films and documentaries with lively presentations by experts from the world of science, technology, and medicine. Since partnering with Sloan in 2011, the Coolidge has awarded over $2.5 million in grants to 101 film-and science-focused organizations in 42 states across the country.

“We are thrilled to receive another grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support the continuation and further expansion of Science on Screen programming throughout the country," says Katherine Tallman, Executive Director & CEO of Coolidge Corner Theatre, in a statement. “Science on Screen epitomizes the power of combining film, a highly accessible form of entertainment, with scientific insights from experts to promote a shared understanding of ourincreasingly complex world. Science on Screen has become an increasingly important means for grantee cinemas to enrich both audiences and speakers, and to strengthen the inherent connectivity among all of us, and across sometimes seemingly disparate communities.”

For the 2021-2022 grant cycle, 39 nonprofit film organizations were awarded grants of up to $8,500 for Science on Screen programs. Over the next two years, the Coolidge will award a minimum of 60 new grants, bringing the cumulative total of grants awarded to approximately 400.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Coolidge Corner Theatre to support the Science on Screen program,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Sloan Foundation, in a statement. “These illuminating and fun events pair popular and provocative films–including Sloan-awarded features such as Hidden Figures, Son of Monarchs, and Don’t Look Up and documentaries such as Coded Bias, In Silico, and Picture a Scientist–with science and technology experts to show that science can illuminate films just as films can illuminate science.”

"The COVID-19 pandemic makes support for nonprofit film organizations even more critical today,” he continued.

This year's grantees are required to implement at least three Science on Screen programs over the course of the grant period. At least one of the films shown must be a past recipient of the annual Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize or a Sloan Development Grant.

Fore more information about Science on Screen at the Coolidge, click here.