California Documentary Project (CDP) Grants 2026-2027 – YOA

Deadline: October 14, 2026

Applications are open for the California Documentary Project (CDP) Grants 2026-2027. The California Documentary Project (CDP) helps nonfiction movie, audio, and digital media tasks that discover the histories, cultures, concepts, and experiences that form California. Through a humanities-primarily based method, CDP helps storytellers in bringing California’s various experiences, types of data, communities, and histories to audiences throughout the state and past.

CDP funding is on the market in two classes, supporting tasks at completely different phases of improvement:

• Research & Development Grants: Research & Development grants assist documentary media tasks of their earliest phases, serving to strengthen their humanities content material and method as they transfer towards manufacturing.
  • Best for: Projects within the analysis, improvement, and early planning phases. 
• Production Grants: Production grants assist documentary media tasks in manufacturing, serving to strengthen their humanities content material and method as they advance in direction of completion.
  • Best for: Projects which have moved past analysis and improvement and are energetic in manufacturing. 

Grants

• Research & Development Grants: Up to $15,000 
• Production Grants: Up to $50,000 

Eligibility

• Eligible candidates embody registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and people working with an eligible nonprofit fiscal sponsor or a public company.
• California residency for the undertaking director and the applicant group (if not fiscally sponsored) is required.
• They additionally favor undertaking personnel to be California-based to the extent doable.
• Both CDP grant classes require a minimal 1:1 match of money and/or in-form contributions from non-federal sources.

Application

The 2026–2027 CDP application course of begins with a Letter of Intent (LOI). Applicants submit an LOI by the California Humanities grant portal.

Start your application: R&D Grants or Production Grants

For extra data, go to California Documentary Project Grants.