NAI Direct Access Fund

Overview

The Nonfiction Access Initiative (NAI) Direct Access Fund is a grant program administered by the International Documentary Association (IDA) with support from the Ford Foundation. The fund awards up to $5,000 in direct funding to disabled nonfiction media makers for access accommodations and services that would otherwise go unfunded. The program was created to address a structural gap in documentary financing: disabled filmmakers face specific costs related to access accommodations that standard production grants do not cover, and no dedicated fund existed to address those costs.

The NAI was developed following the NAI Nonfiction Media Makers with Disabilities Survey, a community-based research project that asked over 200 disabled creators in the field to name the most beneficial support for their practice. The survey, conducted in collaboration with the 1IN4 Coalition, AXS, DisArt, Documentary Association of Pakistan, FWD-Doc, Judy Heumann and The Heumann Perspective Podcast, Helm Consulting, Leonardo/ISAST, MIT Open Documentary Lab, and United States Artists, produced a clear finding: disabled makers needed rapid response funding for access costs not covered by other available grants.

The first cohort in 2023 selected 21 projects from 111 applicants across 25 countries. Funded projects spanned the U.S., Ecuador, Mexico, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Cuba, and included formats such as shorts, features, series, and immersive work. Among the selected media makers, 57% were media makers of color, and a significant portion were women or gender-nonconforming makers from the LGBTQIA+ community.

As of 2025, IDA's Nonfiction Access Initiative has transitioned into the Disability Media Alliance, a new independent initiative. Filmmakers should check the IDA website for current program status and application availability.

What It Funds

The Direct Access Fund covers accommodation and access-related costs that disabled filmmakers need to do their work. These costs fall outside standard production budgets and are typically not recognized as eligible expenses by other grants. The fund operates on the principle that access accommodations are not an optional add-on but the infrastructure that allows disabled filmmakers to work at all.

Examples of funded accommodations include:

• Sign language interpreters for interviews, set communications, or production meetings
• Captioning services for internal production use or post-production
• Audio description production
• Assistive technology for filming, editing, or audio work
• Personal care attendants during production
• Accessible transport for field production
• Wheelchair-accessible vans
• Mental health support
• Medications
• Holistic therapies
• Festival travel and screening access
• Adaptive technologies and equipment
• Insurance premiums
• Rent
• Other specific access needs identified by the applicant

The fund also covers distribution and festival support, making it one of the few grants that extends beyond production into the accessibility costs of bringing a finished film to audiences.

Funding must be used to fulfill an immediate need and must be spent within 3 to 6 months of receiving the funds. The fund asks applicants to request exactly what they need, noting that funds are limited each quarter and the goal is to serve the largest number of makers.

Eligibility

Who Can Apply

• Applicants must be 18 years of age or older.
• Applicants should be the director or producer of the project.
• Applicants can be individuals or collectives operating under a $50,000 annual operational budget.
• Applicants may have a fiscal sponsor, but it is not required.
• Applicants can apply from anywhere in the world.
• IDA membership is not required.
• Applicants cannot be enrolled in a full-time degree-granting program.
• An official diagnosis is not required. If disability, neurodivergence, or chronic illness resonates with the applicant's experience, they are encouraged to apply.
• Projects should preferably be led by a maker who identifies as living with a disability.

Project Requirements

• Applicants must be actively working on a nonfiction-based media project.
• Eligible formats include documentary, nonfiction podcasting, new media, immersive storytelling, and other types of nonfiction practice.
• Projects at any stage are eligible, including development, production, post-production, and distribution/festival support.

Application Process

The Direct Access Fund operates on a rolling basis once open. All applications are reviewed for eligibility. If an application meets all requirements, the NAI team schedules a meeting to discuss the application further.

Applicants should prepare the following materials:

• A completed application form
• Details of the specific access need and associated costs
• Project description and current stage
• Budget for the requested accommodation

The fund provides a material checklist to help applicants prepare. A Direct Access Fund FAQ is also available.

For questions, applicants can contact access@documentary.org.

How This Fund Differs from Other Documentary Grants

The Direct Access Fund is structurally different from standard production grants in several ways:

• Scope of eligible expenses: Most grants fund production costs (crew, equipment, travel, post-production). The Direct Access Fund funds access accommodations that production grants exclude. This means a filmmaker can hold both a production grant and a Direct Access Fund grant simultaneously, covering different categories of expense.
• No fiscal sponsor requirement: Unlike many US-based documentary grants that require a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, the Direct Access Fund does not require one. This removes a barrier for disabled makers who may not have the institutional connections to secure fiscal sponsorship.
• Global eligibility: The fund accepts applications from anywhere in the world, recognizing that disabled filmmakers face access barriers in every production context.
• Rapid response design: The fund was designed as a rapid response mechanism, with rolling review and a 3-to-6-month spending window. This reflects the reality that access needs are often immediate and cannot wait for a standard grant cycle.
• Self-identification: No official diagnosis is required. The fund trusts applicants to self-identify their disability, neurodivergence, or chronic illness.

Who Should Apply

Disabled nonfiction media makers, including documentary filmmakers, nonfiction podcasters, and immersive media artists, who face specific access accommodation costs that their current production budget does not cover and that standard grants do not recognize. The fund is designed to be practical and targeted: applicants should identify specific access needs and costs rather than applying for general production support. The fund is open to makers at all career levels and at any project stage, from development through distribution.

See Also

For documentary filmmakers building a production budget that incorporates accessibility considerations, the Production Schedule Calculator can help structure the overall timeline. For an overview of IDA's broader filmmaker support programs, see Documentary Financing: Building Your Stack. For estimating post-production costs that may run alongside access accommodations, use the Post Production Timeline Calculator.