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Cosmic Rays Film Festival will curate extended reality media art exhibition thanks to $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

(Chapel Hill, N.C. – May 24, 2021) – The Cosmic Rays Film Festival, in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Arts Everywhere initiative, has been approved for a $15,000 Grants for Arts Projects: Media Arts award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support Cosmic Rays Digital. This project is a curated exhibition of extended reality, or XR, media art, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and other forms of immersive media that will take place during the 2022 Cosmic Rays Film Festival, originally founded in 2017 in response to the lack of experimental film and media art programming available to audiences in Chapel Hill and the Triangle. Cosmic Rays Digital is among the more than 1,100 projects across America totaling nearly $27 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding.

“This festival has been a labor of love for us these past few years,” said co-founder Sabine Gruffat. “We are thrilled to receive this award from the NEA and to be able to expand the reach of Cosmic Rays through the exciting world of XR film experiences.” Work will be selected from emerging and established media artists working locally, regionally, and internationally with the hopes of creating an intentional community where local and international film and digital media artists and audiences can exchange ideas, knowledge, and networks, and celebrate artistic excellence in digital media.

“As the country and the arts sector begin to imagine returning to a post-pandemic world, the National Endowment for the Arts is proud to announce funding that will help arts organizations such as the Cosmic Rays Film Festival re-engage fully with partners and audiences,” said NEA Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “Although the arts have sustained many during the pandemic, the chance to gather with one another and share arts experiences is its own necessity and pleasure. To learn more about the upcoming festival and how to submit, visit cosmicraysfilmfest.com or contact Sabine Gruffat and Bill Brown at contact@cosmicraysfilmfest.com.

About the Cosmic Rays Film Festival

Launched in 2017, the Cosmic Rays Film Festival is an annual celebration of non-commercial experimental short films, live-cinema, and extended reality (VR, AR) projects that takes place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The festival’s mission is to give audiences in the Triangle region and across the Southeastern U.S. access to work that expands our idea of what media art is and what it can be beyond commercial entertainment. Cosmic Rays was founded and is co-directed by Sabine Gruffat and Bill Brown, media artists and professors of art and media production at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About Arts Everywhere

Arts Everywhere is a comprehensive initiative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to make the arts a fundamental part of the University culture and daily campus life. Built on a model of programming through partnerships, the initiative collaborates with diverse departments, units, and organizations to embed creative expression, live arts experiences, and arts learning into the Carolina experience of students, faculty, staff, and community.

Contact:

• Sabine Gruffat and Bill Brown, co-directors
• contact@cosmicraysfilmfest.com

For more information about the Cosmic Rays Film Festival: http://www.cosmicraysfilmfest.com

For more information on the projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.