RedLine is a proud partner and administrator of the annual Arts in Society grant. This collaborative program provides grants to both individuals and organizations that use art as a vehicle to promote social justice and community welfare.
We love highlighting our Arts in Society (AiS) grant recipients and all the unique and impactful projects made possible by their grant. And we’re excited continue this series with the 2025 Arts in Society Grantee project: Procession!
Learn more about 2025 grantee House of Kodō, and how their Arts in Society project educates Americans about the forced evacuation, relocation, and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Tell us about your organization!
House of Kodō is a film production collective that specializes in narrative visual branding and storytelling.
We are honored to partner with our incredible fiscal sponsor the Amache Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserve the WWII Granada Relocation Center (Amache) incarceration site and history in order to educate all Americans about the forced evacuation, relocation, and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Preservation of Amache’s stories, artifacts, and historic structures supports the interpretation and education mission. The alliance collaboratively works with other organizations to highlight the lessons of the Japanese American confinement and their relevance to the preservation of liberty and civil rights for all Americans today.
Tell us about your first project that will utilize your Arts in Society Grant
The first project that is utilizing the Arts in Society grant is a short film called Procession. The film follows a woman as she embarks on her first pilgrimage to one of the Japanese American incarceration camp sites on her 70th birthday.
This film is currently undergoing additional shoots as well as re-edits with new footage we had the opportunity to shoot in Amache during the actual pilgrimage this past May. In its current iteration, it has been accepted to the Denver Film Festival, Carmel International Film Festival, and Rocky Mountain PBS programming.
What’s next in the pipeline for your organization? What other projects are you dreaming up for next year, and how will your Arts in Society grant help to support these efforts?
Next in the pipeline is an AAPI led and produced feature length film about legacy, cultural identity, and parenthood. Everything I've been working toward for the past 10+ years has led to this project, and the short film we received support for by Arts in Society was the pivotal stepping stone toward realizing this dream.
Our organization prides itself on creating works that stand the test of time and that transcend the typical scope in which a project of the same scale might usually be possible.
We push the limits in the potential for independent filmmaking, and are only able to do so with our incredible team that also believe in these stories.
We're also working on building up our internship program, which we've been hosting for two years and have seen 14 students through the end. It's been an incredibly fulfilling endeavor, and we hope to continue offering it to upcoming filmmakers for years to come.
What was your experience like when applying for an Art in Society Grant? What tips would you share with artists looking to apply?
The experience of applying for the Arts in Society grant was nothing short of inspiring for our team. We've had the immense honor of being a grantee several years ago for another short film, that also went on to be very successful, so being able to apply again and receive support felt like a full circle moment for our team.
We're endlessly thankful to the Arts in Society team for believing in us, and for continuing to foster meaningful works in Colorado!
Some tips we'd offer for artists also looking to apply for Arts in Society grant support would be to start at the root, and that is the project itself.
Make sure the subject matter or material is something you and your team are so passionate about, that it shows in every facet of the pitch or application.
The project should be something that can and will affect others, as all great arts do—in that once the project is released, it belongs to the people who experience it. In our case, we used a very honest and open mindset in sharing why our project is important, and why we are the right people to tell it, in this current moment.
Meet 2025 AiS Grantee: La Sandia Project
Learn more about this project and how their Arts in Society grant helps them continue to honor the agricultural heritage of Rocky Ford and the Lower Arkansas Valley!
Administered by RedLine, Arts in Society (AiS) is a grant program supporting cross-sector work through the arts across Colorado.
