the 2026 sustainability labs
PAM CUT’s unique Sustainability Labs return this year with a new slate of multi-disciplinary, mid-career artists working at the intersection of art, technology, and storytelling.
The Sustainability Labs focuses on US-based creators, artists, directors, and producers looking to change their personal models of creative, financial, and business sustainability. This three-month program is designed to support talented media storytellers. Artists receive support, resources, and connections to professional opportunities to diversify and thrive creatively, financially, and personally.
Why now?
Successfully making a cinematic art form is a feat in and of itself, but sustaining a career in the film and media industry continues to be difficult because of lack of access to mentors, industry leaders, tools, and strategies necessary in communities outside of major cities. The Lab is a program that uniquely prioritizes holistic career advancement and sustainability over singular project completion. The Lab will act as a catalyst for select artists, our community, and the ecosystem at large.
Despite Portland’s unique and thriving creative scene, PAM CUT’s Sustainability Labs came from a deep need to help talented, multidisciplinary media storytellers receive the support, resources, and connections to a variety of professional opportunities necessary to thrive creatively, financially, and personally in this ever-changing landscape.
How’s it different?
The program focuses on a more “cinema unbound” approach, embracing artists’ multiplicities and de-siloing modes of storytelling to provide greater opportunity and access. Serving five mid-career storytellers working in a variety of mediums (film, television, animation, artists working in XR, audio, new media or hybrid forms, etc.), the Lab is created to help those in search of guidance on the next steps of harnessing and expanding their creative and business talents across multiple platforms.
This will include individual, bespoke support on business plans, project and personal financial planning, creative brand expansion, growth opportunities as well as small group sessions on mental health, balance, and personal sustainability. In order for the Labs to be a sustainable program for artists to participate, a $2,500 stipend will be provided, as well as travel and lodging to Portland and a ticket to the 2026 Cinema Unbound Awards.
Ultimately, the Labs are focused on improving equity, creative diversity, and sustainability in cinematic storytelling in all its forms. In our ongoing commitment to inclusion in media arts, at least 50% of artists who participate in the Sustainability Labs will be representative of marginalized or underrepresented communities (Black, indigenous, artists of color, women artists, trans/nonbinary artists). We’ll also bring together both NW artists and international artists, uplifting the region’s talent to a global scale and creating long-lasting interconnected cohorts that can support one another now and into the future.
The Labs take place in 3 sections:
Four day intensive with professional mentors, coach, and guest presenters to isolate professional needs, set goals, and strategize a sustainable path forward
Personal check-ins with your mentor to track progress and make adjustments as necessary
Presentation at a Portland event and/or pitching a project to a select group of professionals
Do I need an active project to focus on?
Unlike other labs that focus on project-based development, this Lab is for career, creative, and personal development. We’ll certainly talk about your projects, goals, and upcoming opportunities, but the focus will be squarely on you.
How does it work?
Working with professional mentors, life coach, and guest presenters, participants will open doors to their own unique potentials and skills. They’ll establish tangible short and long-term goals to ensure that their creative, financial, and personal sustainability is maintained.
Individual goal setting and project management consulting for an existing project
Personal brand building & audience engagement strategy
Goal setting for career sustainability (i.e. expanded access to job opportunities, meetings with key industry leaders, pitching and key marketing materials, improved connectivity within the NW and introductions to global marketplace leadership, agency or gallery representation, etc.)
Financial forecasting & sustainability (career coaching, goal setting, setting up LLC/business plans, debt management, etc.).