Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw are doubling down on independent storytellers.
The couple’s Hearthland Foundation has committed a $3 million multi-year gift to Sundance Institute which will be used to support the organization’s feature film program, support the return of the directors lab to Sundance Mountain Resort, and increase fellowships and unrestricted grants to indie artists. The gift is one of the largest contributions in Sundance Institute history after a $4 million endowment to the Institute’s Indigenous Program from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria received in 2023.
“Artists help us see what is, imagine what could be, and understand one another more fully. At Hearthland, we invest in the power of creativity and storytelling to open minds, deepen connection, and expand our sense of what is possible,” said Hearthland Foundation’s president of philanthropy Rachel Levin. “The Sundance Institute Directors Lab has done exactly that for generations of filmmakers, giving emerging artists the freedom to take risks, find their voices, and tell the stories only they can tell. Kate and Steven are proud to help carry that extraordinary legacy forward, and hope that this gift will encourage others to further support Sundance’s mission.”
David Linde, who serves as Sundance Institute CEO, said the organization is “deeply grateful” to the couple and their foundation for the support. Linde has a history with Spielberg after having served as co-chairman of Universal Pictures, run Participant, which co-produced Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and The Post and had a formal role as partners of Spielberg’s Amblin Partners. “This gift is a profound vote of confidence in independent artists and in the future of Sundance Institute. As we carry Robert Redford’s vision forward, the Hearthland Foundation’s generosity ensures that the heart of our work, supporting artists at every stage of the creative process, grows stronger for years to come.”
Sundance Institute’s founding senior director of artist programs Michelle Satter, who helped bring in the gift through meetings with the couple’s foundation and a Sundance consultant, comes at a pivotal moment as indie film faces significant headwinds.
“When you give artists time, trust, and a community that believes in their voice, transformation happens. The incredibly generous support from the Hearthland Foundation will underwrite our directors lab returning to the Sundance Mountain Resort and provide vital artist granting, which is profoundly meaningful. It will also do more than launch sustainable creative careers: Their support will champion the bold risk-taking and deep community at the heart of Sundance Institute, ensuring vital, original stories reach U.S. and global audiences.”
Below, Linde and Satter open up during a joint Zoom interview about how the gift came to be, where it will be used and what it means to Sundance Institute.
How did the conversations start with Steven and Kate?
SATTER I was introduced to Rachel Levin who leads the Hearthland Foundation through Rachel Chanoff, a consultant who works with [Sundance Institute]. I was excited to meet her because I had read about the Hearthland Foundation, their commitment to supporting artists and supporting incredible change in our world and their care about creativity, artists’ voices, and also the impact that storytelling can make around the world on so many deep levels. We had lunch and then we had a number of different meetings talking about the institute and the work that we’re doing and the need that the institute had for support of our ongoing artist programs.
The Hearthland Foundation was really committed to continuing its support of extraordinary change-making organizations around the country, and she came back to me and she said, “Okay, now we’re ready to have a real conversation about what you’re doing and how Hearthland can make a difference.” One thing that was really change-making was bringing Rachel and [Amblin’s Kristie Macosko Krieger] in June to our directors lab, because that’s the center of their support for the institute. They were able to see firsthand the work being done in support of a group of emerging artists, and how those artists get the opportunity to learn and take risks to tell their stories.
While they were at the lab, they said they would be meeting with Steven and Kate in the next day or so. And the next afternoon, I was in the editing room with one of the artists and a call came through. I looked down and knew I should take the call. It was Rachel who said, “We’re on. We want to support the institute’s work, your programs going forward, and make a grant of $3 million over three years,” which is enormous to the institute. It will make a huge difference in our work going forward in support of artists through our labs, but also through artists granting, which can make a world of difference for an artist.
What does the gift mean to the organization, David?
LINDE The artist programs are the beating heart of the institute. It’s where it all began and its role in the film industry is, I think, really vital. The gift is really a reflection of that. I have the list of accomplishments at my fingertips: 11,000 artists have gone through the artist programs, $15 billion in total box office from directors that participated in the Sundance artist programs, 258 Academy Award nominations by projects directly supported by the Sundance Institute, and the list goes on and on.
A colleague, who is a senior investment executive at a media business, called the other day and was saying how trusted curation becomes more and more important as we solve to curation not being done by machines. The only brand I can think of that really has that trust, as a trusted curator, is the Sundance Institute. I believe that this institute is one of the most culturally important institutions in the country. The Hearthland gift from Steven and Kate is a reflection of that importance, and an inspiration for others. Clearly, we had to focus on the move of the festival, and the festival has moved, and now it gives us the opportunity to reinvest in the artist programs, and that’s really all about coming back to the global film community.
The gift will allow the directors lab to go back to Utah and its original home after a temporary move to the Stanley Hotel in Estes, Colorado, correct?
SATTER That is correct. The directors lab was absolutely the beginning of Redford’s work and focus in creating the Sundance Institute. Going back to the Sundance Resort with our signature lab, and giving artists time, trust, community that believes in their voice, this is how transformation happens. We’re excited to be back there after the construction, which was going on when we left. It is a place so connected to nature, and when you’re there, you’re so connected to the heartbeat of what Redford believed in and what he cared most deeply about; bringing artists together in community and giving them a place to really support their work going forward and helping them sustain a career.
One of the things I love and always think about, is how Sundance is a full circle. We support artists in the lab at an emerging early stage. They then come back as advisors, and give generously of their time and knowledge of what they’ve learned to a new generation. The advisors often leave and say, “I got more out of it than I gave.” I say, “No, we’re all in it together. We’re all here to learn. We’re all here to be in community and to give and to try things that we would never try. Take the risks and really invest in your creativity and the stories that you want to tell and only you can tell.”
LINDE When I took over, there had been a lot of transition at Sundance, that’s public knowledge. We were talking amongst the staff and leadership about how we were articulating Sundance. What makes it different and unique? Michelle mentioned this already, but the institute is really four parts: the artist programs, Sundance Collab, our online educational platform that currently has students from 177 countries, Catalyst, our funding program bringing together funders and emerging filmmakers in a year-long program, and the fourth part is the festival. That is One Sundance, and it differentiates us between all the other similarly-aligned companies or organizations in the world. You can enter the flywheel at any point. But all that uniqueness and power for young and emerging artists begins with the artist programs. It essentially truly launches them into an ecosystem that results in these incredible movies getting made and these incredible careers being born.
How pivotal is this moment?
SATTER It’s hugely pivotal in everything that we do as we look at a world that needs storytelling, needs stories to be out there told with a real voice and making a difference in the world that we live in. As Rachel says in her quote, artists help us see what is, imagine what could be and understand one another more fully. That’s what we care so deeply about. [Hearthland’s] support, which is of enormous generosity to the institute, will help us continue and build our work going forward to bring more artists into the fold where we can make a real impact on them as creatives, but also on the stories that get told and get out into the world.
LINDE We live in a moment when you can walk outside and find approximately 50 percent of people who probably disagree with your opinion but also cannot be convinced by facts. So, we have to rely on the shared experience that storytellers create to make people feel compassion for each other and help make people want to contribute to the lives of others, make people want to elevate conversations and feel comfortable elevating conversations. That’s what movies do. That’s what film does. When I was at Participant, I used to always say that the filmmakers look around the corner at the most important cultural issues of the day. I can’t see them because I’m not an artist, but they can. The work that the artist programs do could not be more important right now. It just couldn’t. They are the gold standard.
Interview edited for length and clarity.
