SXSW 2026: Funding, Power, and the Future of Queer Storytelling

Description

Funding, Power, and the Future of Queer Storytelling
🗓️ Monday, March 16th, 2026
📍 Hotel Indigo's Urban Pour Social
⏰ 3:00pm - 5pm

Everywhere we turn, especially at conferences and panels, people talk about the power and importance of storytelling to change hearts and minds for the better. If that is true, then where is the funding for LGBTQIA2S+ (Queer) stories, and how are those stories actually being told?

This chat is a candid, solutions-oriented conversation addressing a gap we consistently see across the industry. Queer identity, visibility, and audiences are growing, yet Queer stories remain underrepresented in TV and Film distribution. Even as select Queer titles gain popularity and cultural attention, the question remains: which stories are getting funded, whose stories are being told, and whether there is truly enough intersectional representation among the projects that make it to screen.

Beyond visibility, this conversation asks harder questions about power and access. How do independent Queer creators get their work funded? Why do certain narratives move forward while others stall? Are current funding and distribution models capable of supporting proportional, intersectional representation, or do Queer creators need to build new models altogether?

Rather than focusing on why stories matter, this discussion centers on where funding is actually coming from, where it is falling short, and how storytelling choices are shaped by money, risk, and decision-making. Our special guests will explore practical solutions, emerging funding pathways, and what it will take to build more sustainable systems so Queer stories, in all their complexity, can be told and supported at scale.

The goal is an honest, practical conversation, not a high-level or celebratory one.

Discussion from 3:00-4:00pm. Stick around after the conversation for light bites, networking, and a cash bar with a featured Texas Spirits menu. (Milam & Greene and Wild Gins).

🔗 Austin LGBT Chamber at SXSW | LGBTQ+ Programming at SXSW | Add to your SXSW Schedule 🔗

ASL Interpreation Services are provided by dozanü innovations. 

Moderator:

The conversation is moderated by Fiona Dawson, Senior Director of Partnerships at the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce; Emmy®-nominated filmmaker, author, and speaker; Founder, Free Lion Productions.

Featured Speakers:

• Emily Best, Founder & CEO, Seed&Spark
• Darrien Michele Gipson, Executive Director, SAGindie
• David Hatkoff, Executive Director, Newfest
• Luchina Fisher, Filmmaker, Speaker, Educator

Entry: 

This event is open to both badgeholders and non-badgeholders. SXSW Badges get Primary Access to the Event. Public general admission gets Secondary Access. Venue subject to capacity.

Speaker Bios:

Emily Best, Founder & CEO, Seed&Spark

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform that makes entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected and essential. Seed&Spark’s platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise over $80M and counting. Seed&Spark has spearheaded efforts to launch The Crowdfunding Playbook and the The Distribution Playbook, a free and open- sourced field guides for independent filmmakers to succeed from funding through distribution. She has produced films, VR, shorts and series that have premiered at Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, Tribeca and more. She produced RATIFIED, a feature documentary about the 100+ year struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment, which premiered on Independent Lens October 20, 2025. 

Darrien Michele Gipson, Executive Director, SAGindie

Darrien Michele Gipson is the Executive Director of SAGindie, an educational organization for independent filmmakers. Darrien is a graduate of UCLA, where she received her BA in English Literature; and USC, where she earned an MFA from the Peter Stark Producers Program. She was the Vice President of Development for DEF Pictures before joining SAGindie in 2002 as Festival Coordinator. Since becoming SAGindie’s Executive Director in 2006, Darrien has expanded the organization to reach more festivals and help even more creators on all platforms to bring their projects to fruition. She continues to travel around the world speaking on panels, mentoring writers and filmmakers, and championing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the entertainment industry.

Luchina Fisher, Filmmaker, Speaker, Educator

LUCHINA FISHER is the Emmy Award-winning director and producer of THE DADS, about fathers of transgender and gender expansive kids. The short documentary, executive produced by Dwyane Wade, premiered at SXSW in 2023 and was acquired by Netflix. It received the 2024 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Program and a Special Recognition Award from GLAAD. Her directorial debut, MAMA GLORIA, about a Black trans elder activist, was nominated for a 2022 GLAAD Media Award and broadcast on PBS. She has also directed several award-winning documentaries, and her latest feature THE DADS, a follow-up to the Emmy-winning short, is premiering at SXSW. A former journalist for the Miami Herald, People, The Oprah Magazine and ABC News, Luchina and will be inducted into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame later this year. She is a member of the Television Academy and serves on the board of New York Women in Film and Television and teaches filmmaking at Yale and Fairfield University.

David Hatkoff, Executive Director, NewFest

David Hatkoff is a cultural connector and strategist dedicated to expanding queer visibility across media and culture. Since 2019, he has served as Executive Director of NewFest, New York’s leading LGBTQ+ film and media organization, where he has grown the annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival into the largest queer film festival in the United States. 

Under his leadership, NewFest has expanded its reach with new flagship events like NewFest Pride and Queering the Canon, and initiatives including the Black Filmmakers Initiative and the New Voices Filmmaker Grant with Netflix. Previously, David spent 11 years in senior leadership at the Tony Award–winning Signature Theatre, helping guide its move into its permanent Frank Gehry–designed home. With a deep passion for queer culture, he has worked to bring people together across art, community, and industry to elevate LGBTQ+ storytelling as central to our cultural conversation.