inside otv | 2025
Development Report Cycle 10
—
BY ELIJAH MCKINNON
Co-Founder & Executive Director
As we close the chapter on 2025, Open Television (OTV) marks a defining moment in its evolution. What began ten years ago as a research project has grown into a globally engaged streaming platform, media incubator, and cultural infrastructure committed to sustaining the future of unfiltered storytelling. This anniversary year was not simply a celebration of longevity—it was a year of alignment, expansion, and institutional maturation.
In a moment shaped by industry contraction, cultural consolidation, and increasing threats to creative expression, OTV doubled down on its mission: to build durable pathways for intersectional artists, strengthen community-rooted media ecosystems, and ensure that bold, independent stories continue to reach audiences beyond the margins. 2025 affirmed OTV’s role as both a cultural steward and a systems-builder—grounded in care, collaboration, and long-term vision.
Expanding Our Mission
In 2025, OTV expanded its mission from platform-building to ecosystem stewardship—making the intentional decision to pause several of its marquee programs in order to focus on what matters most: meeting artists where they are and making resource generation and allocation more accessible, unrestricted, and generative.
This pause allowed OTV to respond thoughtfully to a rapidly shifting cultural and economic landscape marked by industry contraction, consolidation, and increased precarity for independent artists. Rather than sustaining programmatic scale at all costs, OTV prioritized care, flexibility, and long-term sustainability—redirecting time, funding, and organizational capacity toward direct artist support, relationship-building, and the strengthening of core infrastructure.
Through the continued growth of the OTV APP, the activation of our living archive, and the refinement of artist-centered pathways, OTV strengthened its ability to support creators across the finish line—providing unrestricted finishing funds for post-production, exhibition, and impact campaigns through the OTV Atlas Fund.
Reimagined initiatives, including Brave Futures, operated within a more adaptive framework that emphasized reduced barriers, clearer access points, and deeper responsiveness to artist needs. These efforts were presented in partnership with a leading technology company, allowing OTV to pair creative experimentation with expanded access to tools, resources, and visibility for participating artists.
At the same time, OTV deepened its commitment to field-building by investing in partnerships, coalitions, and shared governance models that prioritize collaboration over competition. Whether through global exchanges, cross-sector convenings, or local capacity-building efforts in Chicago and beyond, OTV continued to model what it looks like to build media infrastructure that is artist-first, values-aligned, and resilient—especially in moments that call for slowing down in order to move forward with intention the extends impact beyond the screen.
Celebrating a Decade of Unfiltered Storytelling
OTV’s 10th anniversary was both a reflection and a release—an opportunity to honor the past while actively shaping the future. Over the last decade, OTV has released hundreds of titles, supported thousands of artists, and cultivated a global audience hungry for stories that challenge dominant narratives and expand our collective imagination.
In 2025, that legacy moved decisively Beyond the Screen. Through landmark convenings, public programs, exhibitions, and the launch of new publishing and audio projects, OTV transformed its archive into a living record of cultural memory and movement-building. These efforts affirmed that storytelling is not only content—it is infrastructure, relationship, and practice.
By centering care, ethical collaboration, and collective wellbeing, OTV demonstrated that sustainability in the arts is not achieved through scale alone, but through depth: deeper engagement with artists, deeper accountability to communities, and deeper investment in the systems that support creative freedom in times of uncertainty.
Building Toward 2026
As OTV moves beyond its 10th anniversary—marking not just a milestone, but a turning point—we are poised to enter our next phase with greater clarity, investment, and resilience. Over the past year, OTV has secured increased resources, restructured the organization to better meet the realities of the current moment, and cultivated operating reserves that allow us to explore new and sustainable models for growth without compromising our values.
We have also made meaningful commitments with partners across sectors—including Seed&Spark, Soho House, the Mozilla Foundation, DiaLAB, Estudio Teorema, Mezcla Media Collective, The Center for Cultural Power, Comfrey Films, Apple, and others—to pilot more integrated approaches to community-building, technology, and artist development. These partnerships reflect a shared belief that the future of independent media requires collaboration across disciplines, platforms, and industries.
In parallel, OTV made strong strides in articulating a strategic vision that is both grounded and expansive. Our FY26–30 Strategic Vision builds on a decade of learning while responding directly to today’s cultural, economic, and technological shifts—positioning OTV to remain adaptive, artist-first, and impact-driven in the years ahead.
Beginning in 2026, OTV will reintroduce collective and marquee efforts, including Brave Futures and Table Read Club, alongside deeper experimentation with ways to responsibly scale #OTVDistro and activate our archive for greater reach and sustainability. These efforts—amplifying voices, expanding global footprints, and strengthening community infrastructure—continue to solidify OTV’s role as a leader in independent media.
Together, we are building a future in which intersectional storytelling not only survives, but thrives—shaping culture, inspiring communities, and driving systemic change. We invite you to build with OTV as we step into our next decade and continue redefining what’s possible in independent media.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM 2025
〰️
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM 2025 〰️
Beyond the Screen as Reach: Expanding Digital Access and Audience Power
In 2025, OTV significantly expanded its digital footprint, strengthening its role as a global access point for intersectional storytelling. Across Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Mailchimp, OTV achieved a 37% increase in followers and 4.5 million impressions—a 157% year-over-year increase. At the same time, the OTV App grew subscribers by 27%, licensing and releasing more than 60 independent works globally in over 100 countries with the highest engagement coming from the United States, Mexico, India, Brazil and the United Kingdom . Together, these efforts extended artist visibility, deepened audience engagement, and reinforced OTV’s platform as a durable distribution and exhibition space beyond traditional gatekeepers.
Beyond the Screen as Resources: Shifting Toward Unrestricted, Generative Artist Support
2025 marked a pivotal evolution in how OTV supports artists. Through the pilot launch of the OTV Atlas Fund, OTV provided unrestricted finishing support to 20 artists across more than a dozen projects, focused on post-production, exhibition strategy, and impact campaigns. These projects secured placements at over two dozen festivals, including Cannes, BlackStar, and CAAM, and earned multiple accolades, including a Daytime Emmy Award. This shift toward flexible, artist-driven resourcing materially strengthened career mobility and positioned OTV as a critical infrastructure for artists finishing and sustaining their work.
Beyond the Screen as Relationship: Convening, Coalition, and Collective Learning
OTV expanded its role as a convener and field-builder through the inaugural Beyond the Screen Convening, which brought together 150 artists, funders, scholars, and cultural practitioners. Through facilitated listening sessions, strategy workshops, and collective visioning, participants surfaced shared challenges around artist mobility, narrative sovereignty, and organizational sustainability—insights that directly informed OTV’s next-decade strategy. In parallel, OTV expanded a robust coalition of partners across the arts, philanthropy, technology, and advocacy sectors, reinforcing collaboration over competition as a core operating principle.
Beyond the Screen as Infrastructure: Organizational Restructuring and Field Leadership
In response to a rapidly shifting industry landscape, OTV undertook major organizational changes to strengthen long-term resilience. The organization adopted a Co-Director leadership model, redistributing responsibility across the following portfolios of work: Development & Operations, Initiatives & Partnerships, and Strategy & Distribution. OTV also expanded and diversified its board, increased staff capacity, refined its fundraising strategy, and formalized shared governance practices. These shifts strengthened accountability, distributed power, and aligned internal structure with OTV’s values of care, sustainability, and collective leadership.
Innovating Community-Centric Models
OTV expanded its residency model at the #OTVStudio, offering affordable space to organizations like Mezcla Media Collective, Global Impact Producers, and One Earth Collective. Studio programming also supported artist wellness and professional growth, underscoring OTV’s commitment to nurturing local creative communities while scaling its national and global impact.
Beyond the Screen as Future Readiness: Experimentation and a 10-Year Horizon
Looking ahead, 2025 functioned as a year of inquiry and recalibration—inviting OTV to experiment with how artist development is delivered and how partnerships are cultivated. Through this process, we learned the importance of going deeper rather than wider: prioritizing trust, proximity, and sustained engagement over scale alone. These learnings informed how we strengthened our infrastructure and clarified our direction. In parallel, OTV served as a fiscal sponsor to several emerging initiatives, unlocking catalytic capital and organizational support to help mobilize the next generation of storytellers. OTV also completed its FY26–30 Strategic Vision, establishing a clear roadmap for growth. Together, these efforts position OTV to reintroduce marquee programs, responsibly scale #OTVDistro, and continue experimenting with integrated, relationship-centered models of artist development and community-building in 2026 and beyond.
#OTVAPP
〰️
#OTVAPP 〰️
Launched in late 2020, the OTV APP continues to serve as the central hub for intersectional storytelling—offering a thoughtfully designed streaming experience available on Apple, Android, Roku, and FireTV. In alignment with OTV’s mission to amplify intersectional voices and perspectives, the platform operates as both a distribution engine and a community access point, connecting artists and audiences through bold, independent work that challenges dominant narratives.
2025 Milestones and Achievements
In 2025, the OTV APP deepened its role as a global distribution and exhibition platform, even as the organization strategically paused select marquee programs to focus on artist-centered resource generation and infrastructure-building. The platform experienced continued audience growth, expanded its library, and strengthened pathways for artists to reach new audiences.
Key Metrics:
27% Growth in Subscribers: A strong year-over-year increase, reflecting sustained demand for intersectional stories and the platform’s growing cultural relevance.
60+ Titles Licensed and Released: Including independent short films, episodic series, and video art works distributed through the OTV APP.
Expanded Visibility & Impact: The platform supported festival premieres, award-winning projects, and international distribution pathways for participating artists.
Driving Engagement:
Integrated Distribution Strategy: The OTV APP operated in close alignment with OTV Atlas, Brave Futures, and partner-led initiatives—ensuring that artists supported through OTV’s ecosystem had clear, meaningful routes to exhibition, audience engagement, and impact.
Audience Growth Through Digital Campaigns: Platform growth was supported by expanded digital reach across social media and email channels, driving discovery and sustained engagement.
Global Reach:
In 2025, the OTV APP continued to reach audiences across the United States, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Europe, with notable increases in engagement from India and Pakistan—reinforcing its role as a global access point for stories rooted in intersectional experiences and cultural specificity.
In 2025, the OTV APP continued to reach audiences across the United States, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Europe, with significant increased engagement in India and Pakistan, reinforcing its role as a global access point for stories rooted in intersectional experiences and cultural specificity.
This year, OTV also sharpened its curatorial approach, aligning release and distribution strategies around thematic drops and intentional audience pathways rather than volume alone. Each collection was designed to invite deeper engagement, contextual understanding, and sustained discovery—positioning curation itself as a form of care and cultural strategy.
To further this approach, OTV launched the OTV Guide—a new editorial platform that commissions OTV-supported artists and cultural workers to write critical reflections and reviews of titles streaming on the platform. Hosted at www.weareo.tv/community, the Guide expands how audiences encounter work on the OTV APP, centering artist voice, criticism, and collective interpretation alongside distribution.
Throughout the year, curated releases included:
Living Unbound: You Don’t Have to Hide, exploring the tension between visibility and self-preservation through films that confront identity, defiance, and the courage to be seen.
Beyond She: A Tapestry of Femininity, a layered exploration of femininity as lived experience—fluid, contested, and expansive beyond imposed definitions.
Queer As In…, a collection rooted in possibility rather than prescription, holding space for stories of defiance, connection, and collective care that resist neat categorization.
KiChange, spotlighting musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists using music video as a genre-defying site of experimentation.
Watery Memories, a cinematic meditation on grief, desire, and becoming—dwelling in the in-between spaces where identity continues to reshape itself.
Frights and Delights, a seasonal showcase that reclaims fear as a site of transformation, resilience, and imaginative release for intersectional storytellers.
As OTV moves beyond its 10th anniversary, the continued evolution of the OTV APP underscores the organization’s long-term commitment to artist-first distribution and sustainable media infrastructure. Through intentional curation, critical context, and platform innovation, the APP remains a cornerstone of OTV’s strategy—bridging creation, exhibition, and impact while ensuring that independent stories are not only seen, but meaningfully supported.
#OTVATLAS
〰️
#OTVATLAS 〰️
Launched as a pilot in 2025, OTV ATLAS represents a major evolution in Open Television’s approach to artist development, distribution, and field leadership. Designed to meet artists at pivotal moments in their creative journeys, OTV Atlas provides unrestricted grants and resources to support post-production, exhibition strategy, and impact campaign development—addressing one of the most persistent gaps in the independent media ecosystem.
In addition to direct financial support, OTV Atlas functions as a living resource hub, routinely updated and managed by OTV’s research team. The hub aggregates tools, funding opportunities, distribution insights, and field knowledge—ensuring artists have ongoing access to practical resources beyond the grant period.
Unlike traditional programs bound by rigid deliverables, OTV Atlas prioritizes flexibility, trust, and artist agency—recognizing that finishing, releasing, and sustaining work often requires adaptive support, informed guidance, and timely access to information rather than prescriptive funding models.
#OTVAtlas Ambassador: Roy Kinsey walking through the library at Poetry Foundation on the first day of filming Reading Came First. Read more via the #OTVCommunity.
2025 Milestones and Investment
In its inaugural year, OTV Atlas deployed more than $300,000 in unrestricted grants and resources, supporting over a dozen projects led by 20 artists working across the United States, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Funds supported critical stages of production and circulation, including color, sound, editing, impact producing, travel, community screenings, and exhibition preparation.
These investments enabled projects to reach audiences and platforms that might otherwise have been inaccessible—while preserving creative autonomy and reducing financial precarity at decisive moments.
#OTVAtlas Ambassador: Richa Rudola directing Cow Heavy And Floral on set in Los Angeles. Read more via the #OTVCommunity.
Early Outcomes & Relational Impact
Early evaluation data underscores OTV Atlas’s relational and professional impact—extending beyond financial support alone.
Artists reported that their OTV Atlas ambassadorship:
Expanded visibility and professional networks
Strengthened existing relationships
Enabled new partnerships and collaborations
Opened pathways to new production or funding opportunities
Led to speaking engagements, panels, and educational or community events
Provided meaningful mentorship and professional development
When asked about organizational support, the majority of participants reported feeling mostly extremely supported by the OTV team throughout their ambassadorship—reinforcing OTV’s role as a trusted partner, not just a funder.
#OTVAtlas Ambassador: HUNT'S TRADING POST documentary director Vee Hua with shop owner Bill Day. Read more via the #OTVCommunity.
Artist Reflections (Selected Highlights)
Artists consistently named OTV Atlas as catalytic at moments of uncertainty or transition:
For filmmaker Vee Hua (they/them), Atlas support alleviated unexpected financial strain—covering essential post-production costs and enabling travel critical to completing Hunts Trading Post.
Anthony L. Williams (he/him) credited Atlas with jumpstarting a long-stalled proof-of-concept—unlocking professional editing, sound, promotional materials, and early screenings that positioned It’s Not You, It’s Me for release on the OTV App.
Richa Rudola described the grant as both a practical and emotional turning point—allowing her to fairly compensate collaborators and advance a values-aligned impact campaign for Cow Heavy and Floral during a volatile funding climate.
For Roy Kinsey (he/him), Atlas transformed the process from isolation to belonging—supporting continued writing, hiring collaborators, and deepening community-rooted storytelling through The Rapbrarian: Reading Came First.
Makeda Declet (she/her) shared that OTV’s support empowered her to take creative risks, expand her audience, and situate Sleep’Her within a Chicago-based ecosystem that felt affirming, strategic, and complete.
Across testimonials, artists emphasized not only what Atlas funded—but how OTV showed up: with trust, creative respect, and a belief in their vision at moments that mattered most.
Looking Ahead:
OTV Atlas is poised to grow into a cornerstone of OTV’s next decade—bridging artist development, distribution, and impact while opening pathways for nontraditional financing and earned-revenue opportunities. As OTV advances into its FY26–30 strategic horizon, Atlas will continue to anchor the organization’s commitment to unrestricted support, narrative sovereignty, and long-term sustainability for intersectional storytellers.
By investing in artists at the finish line—and honoring the relational labor that sustains creative work—OTV Atlas affirms a simple truth: when artists are trusted and resourced, their stories reach further, resonate deeper, and endure.
#bravefutures
〰️
#bravefutures 〰️
Originally launched in 2019, Brave Futures has evolved into a global platform for commissioning bold, intersectional cinema that responds to urgent cultural, technological, and social questions. In 2025, Brave Futures Barcelona marked a significant expansion of the program—operating as a case study in corporate sponsorship, artist commissioning, and live installation exhibition within a major international festival ecosystem.
Delivered in partnership with the Mozilla Foundation as part of Mozilla Festival Barcelona, this edition positioned OTV not only as a supporter of filmmakers, but as a critical node for identifying and resourcing cultural stewards—artists capable of responding to pressing global themes through cinema.
Impact at Mozilla Festival Barcelona
Brave Futures Barcelona commissioned six original short films, created by artists responding to global prompts centered on imagination, unlearning, and technology. The works were developed through an intensive, time-bound process that combined artist stipends, mentorship, and production resources—prioritizing experimentation, conceptual rigor, and narrative clarity.
The films were presented as part of a live installation exhibition embedded within the festival, reaching over 2,000 attendees across the duration of Mozilla Festival. This exhibition model expanded traditional screening formats—inviting audiences into an immersive, dialogue-driven experience that bridged cinema, technology, and cultural inquiry.
To date, four of the six commissioned films (and counting) have been selected for film festivals, demonstrating the artistic rigor and circulation potential of work developed through this model.
A Model for Commissioning & Sponsorship
Brave Futures Barcelona functioned as a replicable model for how values-aligned corporate sponsorship can support independent artists without compromising creative integrity. By pairing Mozilla’s mission-driven investment with OTV’s artist-first infrastructure, the program demonstrated how commissioning, production, and exhibition can operate within a shared framework of care, experimentation, and accountability.
This approach allowed OTV to expand beyond traditional storytelling organizations—positioning the organization as a connector between artists, institutions, and technology partners seeking meaningful cultural engagement.
Cultural Stewardship & Global Reach
Through Brave Futures Barcelona, OTV deepened its role as a global cultural steward—curating artists whose work engages directly with contemporary questions around power, technology, memory, and collective futures. The program reaffirmed cinema as a vital tool for cultural sense-making and demonstrated OTV’s capacity to operate within international festival environments while centering intersectional perspectives.
Brave Futures Barcelona underscores OTV’s commitment to commissioning bold new work, expanding global partnerships, and experimenting with exhibition formats that meet audiences where they are. As OTV looks toward 2026, this edition stands as a blueprint for future iterations—where film, technology, and community converge to imagine braver futures together.
#BEYONDTHSCREEN
〰️
#BEYONDTHSCREEN 〰️
Launched during OTV’s 10th anniversary year, Beyond the Screen functioned as a multi-platform campaign designed to reflect, document, and advance a decade of work at the intersection of storytelling, cultural strategy, and community infrastructure. At a time when independent media is facing contraction, consolidation, and censorship, Beyond the Screen positioned OTV not only as a content platform, but as a knowledge producer, convener, and steward of collective memory.
The campaign unfolded across three integrated components—a national convening, a multimedia publication, and a limited audio series—each reinforcing the others and extending OTV’s impact beyond any single format.
Beyond the Screen Convening
〰️
Beyond the Screen Convening 〰️
In 2025, OTV hosted the inaugural Beyond the Screen Convening, bringing together 150 artists, funders, scholars, technologists, and cultural practitioners. Designed as a space for deep listening and collective sense-making, the convening focused on critical fieldwide questions including artist mobility, narrative sovereignty, organizational sustainability, and the future of independent media infrastructure.
Participants engaged in facilitated listening sessions, strategy workshops, and collective visioning exercises that surfaced shared challenges and emergent opportunities across sectors. Rather than centering panels alone, the convening emphasized relational exchange—allowing participants to connect across disciplines and roles while contributing to a broader conversation about what the next decade of media arts requires.
Insights generated through the convening directly informed OTV’s FY26–30 Strategic Vision, while also contributing to a growing body of field knowledge that extends beyond the organization itself.
Beyond the Screen Multimedia Publication
〰️
Beyond the Screen Multimedia Publication 〰️
Beyond the Screen: Softcover (1st Edition) — $50.00
Beyond the Screen: Handmade Hardcover (Limited Edition) — $150.00
Beyond the Screen: Special Box Set (Limited Edition) — $5000.00
Beyond the Screen Publication
As a companion to the convening, OTV produced and released Beyond the Screen Publication—a printed book and digital resource that captures ten years of research, interviews, artist reflections, and institutional learning. The publication serves both as an archival record of OTV’s evolution and as a public learning tool for artists, educators, policymakers, and cultural workers seeking more reparative, community-centered approaches to media-making.
Structured around key themes and lessons from OTV’s first decade, the publication documents not only outcomes, but process—offering readers insight into how values such as care, collaboration, and experimentation have been operationalized over time. In doing so, Beyond the Screen positions OTV’s work within a larger lineage of cultural strategy and narrative change.
Beyond the Screen Limited Audio Series
〰️
Beyond the Screen Limited Audio Series 〰️
Beyond the Screen Limited Audio Series
Extending the campaign’s reach and accessibility, OTV released the Beyond the Screen Limited Audio Series, featuring curated conversations with artists, organizers, and thought partners from across OTV’s ecosystem. The series invites listeners into intimate reflections on leadership, legacy, creative risk, and the infrastructures that sustain independent storytelling.
Designed for broad public access, the audio series expands the campaign beyond print and in-person engagement—meeting audiences where they are and reinforcing OTV’s commitment to multiple modes of storytelling and knowledge-sharing. Together with the publication, the series transforms Beyond the Screen into a living archive that continues to circulate ideas, questions, and insights well beyond 2025.
Beyond the Screen Limited Audio Series
Extending the campaign’s reach and accessibility, OTV released the Beyond the Screen Limited Audio Series, featuring curated conversations with artists, organizers, and thought partners from across OTV’s ecosystem. The series invites listeners into intimate reflections on leadership, legacy, creative risk, and the infrastructures that sustain independent storytelling.
Designed for broad public access, the audio series expands the campaign beyond print and in-person engagement—meeting audiences where they are and reinforcing OTV’s commitment to multiple modes of storytelling and knowledge-sharing. Together with the publication, the series transforms Beyond the Screen into a living archive that continues to circulate ideas, questions, and insights well beyond 2025.
Campaign Impact & Legacy
Collectively, the Beyond the Screen campaign marked a shift in how OTV engages its community—moving from program delivery alone toward thought leadership, field documentation, and shared authorship of the future. By integrating convening, publishing, and audio storytelling, OTV demonstrated how cultural organizations can operate as platforms for reflection and repair while still driving forward-looking strategy.
Beyond the Screen affirms a core belief at the heart of OTV’s work: that storytelling is not only about what we watch, but about how we gather, remember, and imagine together. As OTV looks ahead to its next decade, this campaign stands as both a culmination and a starting point—anchoring the organization’s legacy while opening new pathways for collective possibility.
organizational development
〰️
organizational development 〰️
ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH & INFRASTRUCTURE — 2025
2025 marked a defining year of organizational transformation for Open Television (OTV). As the organization entered its 10th anniversary, OTV made intentional investments in governance, leadership, fundraising, and internal infrastructure—positioning the organization to navigate a volatile cultural and economic landscape while strengthening its long-term sustainability and impact.
Governance & Board Leadership
OTV strengthened its governance structure through the appointment of new Board Co-Chairs, expanding leadership capacity and reinforcing shared stewardship at the highest level of the organization. In parallel, OTV continued to diversify and expand its board, bringing in expertise across media, philanthropy, technology, and community organizing. The board played an active role in strategic planning, fundraising alignment, and organizational oversight—ensuring that growth remained values-aligned and mission-driven.
Fundraising & Financial Sustainability
In 2025, OTV made significant strides in fundraising and financial resilience. Most notably, the organization secured multi-year BUILD support, providing critical unrestricted funding to strengthen operations, invest in staff, and build internal systems. This support enabled OTV to cultivate operating reserves, experiment with new models of artist support and earned revenue, and reduce reliance on short-term, project-restricted funding—marking an important shift toward long-term financial stability.
Organizational Restructure & Leadership Model
To better meet the demands of its expanding work, OTV completed a major organizational restructure, formalizing a Co-Director leadership model across three core areas: Development & Operations, Initiatives & Partnerships, and Strategy & Distribution. This model redistributed power, clarified accountability, and aligned leadership with OTV’s values of care, collaboration, and shared governance—strengthening the organization’s ability to adapt and respond in real time.
Expanded Team Capacity
OTV expanded its internal team by adding new staff roles and increasing operational capacity across programs, fundraising, communications, and administration. These additions improved execution, reduced bottlenecks, and allowed the organization to more effectively support artists, partners, and audiences across a growing portfolio of initiatives. Investments in staff capacity were paired with updated systems and workflows designed to support long-term sustainability rather than short-term scale.
FY26–30 Strategic Vision
A major milestone in 2025 was the completion of OTV’s FY26–30 Strategic Vision, developed through a multi-month planning process that included staff, board, and external advisors. The strategic vision outlines a clear roadmap across artist development, distribution, technology, governance, and financial sustainability—anchored in equity, narrative sovereignty, and organizational health. This plan now serves as a guiding framework for OTV’s next decade, ensuring that growth is intentional, measured, and aligned with the needs of artists and communities.
Industry Presence & Strategic Partnerships
OTV continued to deepen its presence across the independent film ecosystem through partnerships and collaborations with organizations such as Seed&Spark, Mozilla Foundation, Soho House, Apple, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Color Congress, Kashif Incubator, and the Chicago Media Coalition, among others. These relationships expanded OTV’s reach, enabled cross-sector experimentation, and reinforced its role as a connector between artists, institutions, and audiences.
Through these organizational advancements, OTV enters its second decade with stronger governance, increased financial resilience, and a clear strategic path forward. By prioritizing infrastructure, shared leadership, and long-term planning, OTV has built a foundation that not only supports growth—but ensures that intersectional storytelling remains sustainable, adaptive, and deeply rooted in care for years to come.
audience snapshot
〰️
audience snapshot 〰️
In 2025, Open Television (OTV) reached audiences through a more focused and intentional mix of digital distribution, live convening, and platform-based engagement. While select marquee programs were strategically paused to strengthen infrastructure and resource accessibility, OTV continued to grow its audience, deepen engagement, and expand global reach—demonstrating the durability of its ecosystem and the strength of its community.
Across platforms and programs, OTV maintained high standards of production quality, audience engagement, and critical attention—while shifting toward models that prioritize access, care, and long-term sustainability.
Digital Footprint & Platform Engagement
OTV’s digital ecosystem experienced significant growth in 2025, reinforcing the organization’s role as a global access point for intersectional storytelling.
37% increase in followers across Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and Mailchimp
4.5 million impressions, representing a 157% year-over-year increase
125,000+ engagements across social platforms
27% growth in OTV App subscribers
10,000+ unique users engaged through the OTV App globally
These metrics reflect sustained audience interest and growing demand for independent, intersectional narratives—particularly during a year when OTV intentionally focused on infrastructure, distribution, and resource deployment rather than program scale alone.
Live & Experiential Engagement
Through convenings, exhibitions, and partner-led activations, OTV reached over 3,000 people in live settings in 2025.
Key highlights include:
Beyond the Screen Convening (150 attendees)
Brave Futures Barcelona at Mozilla Festival (2,000+ attendees across the festival)
Public screenings, installations, and community gatherings hosted in partnership with cultural institutions and coalitions (750 attendees)
These engagements prioritized depth over volume—centering dialogue, reflection, and collective learning alongside exhibition.
Artists & Communities Served
Despite pausing select development programs, OTV continued to support artists and communities through funding, distribution, convening, and infrastructure-based initiatives.
20 artists directly supported through OTV Atlas across more than a dozen projects
60+ works distributed and licensed via the OTV App
3,000+ community members served in person through convenings, exhibitions, and live programs
10,000+ community members engaged digitally through the OTV App, audio series, publication, and social platforms
OTV’s audience includes filmmakers, artists across disciplines, cultural workers, educators, programmers, funders, and global viewers seeking intersectional perspectives and independent storytelling.
Geographic Reach
Chicago:
OTV remained deeply rooted in Chicago through local partnerships, artist support, and public engagement—while positioning the city as a hub for national and global media arts exchange.
National:
OTV engaged audiences across major U.S. cultural centers through convenings, partner activations, and national distribution—strengthening peer networks, institutional relationships, and visibility for Chicago-based artists.
International:
International engagement expanded significantly through Brave Futures Barcelona and global distribution via the OTV App. Audiences in Europe, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa continued to grow, reinforcing OTV’s role as a transnational platform for intersectional storytelling.
Audience Impact Summary
In 2025, OTV’s audience growth was defined not only by scale, but by trust, relevance, and sustained engagement. By meeting audiences across platforms—digital, in-person, and published—OTV strengthened its position as a cultural connector and knowledge-sharing institution.
As the organization looks toward 2026, OTV enters its next decade with a larger, more engaged global audience—and the infrastructure in place to support deeper participation, expanded access, and long-term community building beyond the screen.
closing reflections
〰️
closing reflections 〰️
As we close 2025, Open Television stands at a meaningful threshold—one shaped as much by intention as by achievement. This year asked us to slow down, to listen more closely, and to make deliberate choices about how we steward resources, relationships, and responsibility in a rapidly shifting cultural landscape. In doing so, OTV affirmed that sustainability is not only about growth, but about alignment.
During a period marked by industry contraction, consolidation, and heightened precarity for artists and cultural workers, we chose to focus on what we believe matters most: trust, access, and long-term care. By pausing select programs, restructuring our organization, and investing in unrestricted resources through initiatives like OTV Atlas, we created space to respond more honestly to the realities artists are navigating—and to build infrastructure that can endure beyond any single funding cycle or moment.
At the same time, 2025 reminded us of the power of gathering, reflection, and shared authorship. Through the Beyond the Screen campaign—spanning convening, publishing, and audio storytelling—we documented not just a decade of work, but a way of working rooted in collaboration, curiosity, and collective imagination. These efforts reinforced a core belief that storytelling is not only something we distribute; it is something we practice together.
As we enter our next decade, OTV does so with greater clarity, resilience, and shared leadership. With strengthened governance, deeper partnerships across sectors, and a bold FY26–30 strategic vision, we are prepared to experiment responsibly, reintroduce marquee initiatives, and continue building pathways that support artists and their audiences across the full arc of creative life.
None of this work happens in isolation. It is made possible by the artists who trust us with their stories, the partners who build alongside us, the funders who invest in long-term vision, and the audiences who show up with curiosity and care. Together, we are proving that independent media can be expansive, ethical, and sustaining—even in moments of uncertainty.
As we look ahead, we remain committed to the work beyond the screen: cultivating empathy over division, strengthening cultural infrastructure, and ensuring that intersectional stories are not only seen, but supported. Thank you for being part of this journey—and for helping us imagine what comes next.
