Two Programs.
One Pipeline.
AlabamaCreates develops creative talent at two stages. The first surfaces it young. The second sharpens it into a professional career. Both are designed to keep Alabama's best creative minds in Alabama.
Two Programs.
One Pipeline.
AlabamaCreates develops creative talent at two stages. The first surfaces it young. The second sharpens it into a professional career. Both are designed to keep Alabama's best creative minds in Alabama.
Film Exchange
Context
The Film Exchange is where it started. A youth filmmaking fellowship currently serving 29 high schools across Southeast Alabama, the program surfaces young storytellers through an annual competition, then develops the top talent through a hands-on spring fellowship. This fall, Film Exchange expands to Birmingham, with a goal of eight regional programs reaching all 67 Alabama counties with equipment and training by 2030.
Architecture
Fall: Regional film competitions across active markets. Top films screened at Festival Night. Winners are invited into the spring fellowship.
Spring: Fellows receive pro-grade production equipment, intensive training in filmmaking fundamentals and professional soft skills, complete three paid field projects for local organizations, and close with an entrepreneurship-focused capstone weekend.
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The Studio
Architecture
Twelve creatives. Twelve weeks. Three orientations. Paid from day one. The Studio is AlabamaCreates' flagship cohort program, where emerging creatives earn income while building professional-grade work for real Alabama organizations. Studio members are selected through a competitive process, then paired with working creative professionals who guide them through client engagements with real stakes, real deadlines, and real revenue.
Mutli-Disciplinary
Each cohort is organized into Micro Studios of three orientations: Brand (identity, strategy, visual systems), Motion (video, animation, editorial content), and Interactive (web, digital products, experience design).
Orientations are a creative leaning, not a rigid track. All three share a common foundation in storytelling, systems thinking, and business architecture.
Micro studio teams take on real client engagements with Alabama organizations and earn revenue throughout the three-month program.
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The Flywheel
Every client engagement does double duty. It trains the next generation of Alabama's creative workforce, and it elevates the stories being told about what people are actually building across this state. The organizations get world-class creative output. The creatives get professional reps. Alabama gets better stories. The whole system compounds.
AlabamaCreates