The Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant is an annual grant that will be awarded to lesbians for making visionary moving-image art. 

“It has been the goal of my life to put a lesbian lifestyle on the screen. Why? Because when I started I couldn’t find any! ...I picked up a camera in the 60s, late 60s, made Super 8, 8mm, finally went to school and got a 16mm camera. Made 13 films in two and a half years. All experimental. Because I think that as a lesbian at that time I was living an experimental lifestyle. Well let’s just say, I was experimenting. And I still am. And I think that lesbian film really calls out for experimental work. ...Working as a lesbian filmmaker in the 70s wasn’t easy in the social structure — the educational institution that I was in. It was difficult. And I want this grant to make it easier for lesbians of today. So you can make work that you want to make.”

— Barbara Hammer

ABOUT

The Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant is an annual grant awarded to lesbians for making visionary moving-image art. Work can be experimental animation, experimental documentary, experimental narrative, cross-genre, or solely experimental. Applicants must be based in the U.S. This grant was established by Hammer in 2017 to give needed support to moving-image art made by lesbians. The grant is supported directly by funds provided by Hammer’s estate and administered through Queer|Art by lesbians for lesbians, with a rotating panel of judges. The grant includes an award of $5,000, and a series of individual studio visits with QA staff members and the grant’s judges. This year’s judges include A.K. Burns, Ela Troyano, and Cheryl Dunye.

Applications for the Barbara Hammer Lesbian Experimental Filmmaking Grant are open from March 31st, 2025–July 2nd, 2025. For questions, read our frequently asked questions, or email Communications Manager, Andrius Alvarez-Backus, at andrius@queer-art.org