WASHINGTON – FEMA’s Resilient Nation Partnership Network (RNPN) eighth forum will host in partnership with the Sundance Institute. The theme for this year is “Stories of Resilience: Voices That Inspire.” The Forum will feature robust panel discussions on resilience challenges and how we can act together to address them by using storytelling to advance natural hazard resilience. Sessions will take place online Thursdays in April from 1-3 p.m.

“FEMA’s Resilient Nation Partnership Network and Sundance Institute collaboration is a powerful opportunity to showcase community-led resilience building in action,” said Victoria Salinas FEMA Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Administrator for Resilience. “As FEMA launches 2024 as its Year of Resilience, partnerships such as these allow our agency to reach broader audiences that are critical to increasing resilience across our nation. By hearing the stories of communities who are often left out of the conversation, we cultivate new spaces and ways to build trust with communities, promote equity, and increase resilience.”  

“We are very excited to team up with FEMA and the RNPN. Storytelling is key to understanding climate justice, and these kinds of partnerships help us imagine a stronger future," said Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs, Sundance Institute’s Director of Artist Accelerator and Women at Sundance. "Sundance has a long history of lifting up the voices that tell gripping climate stories. These stories take us into communities, get local activists involved, and shed light on our shared concerns. Collaborations like this are essential: widening our audience, educating them, and motivating all of us to act. It's all about building a resilient climate future for everyone." 

Each day of the Forum will feature diverse speakers discussing and inspiring community-led resilience. Registration is open to all. 

To learn more and register, go to FEMA.gov/RNPN.     

FEMA’s Resilient Nation Partnership Network

The Resilient Nation Partnership Network (RNPN) represents a diverse network of voices united in their commitment to help communities act and become more resilient toward natural disasters and climate-related events. What started as a handful of like-minded individuals has flourished to over 1,600 organizations represented. Our mission is to inform, educate, and motivate communities to protect themselves from the loss of life, property, and prosperity as a result of natural hazards.

Sundance Institute

As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from each other and Sundance advisors and connect in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. 

The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Through the Sundance Institute, artist programs we have supported include projects such as Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Big Sick, Bottle Rocket, Boys Don’t Cry, Boys State, Call Me By Your Name, Clemency, CODA, Drunktown’s Finest, The Farewell, Fire of Love, Flee, The Forty-Year-Old Version, Fruitvale Station, Get Out, Half Nelson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hereditary, Honeyland, The Infiltrators, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Little Woods, Love & Basketball, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mudbound, Nanny, Navalny, O.J.: Made in America, One Child Nation, Pariah, Raising Victor Vargas, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, RBG, Sin Nombre, Sorry to Bother You, The Souvenir, Strong Island, Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Swiss Army Man, Sydney, A Thousand and One, Top of the Lake, Walking and Talking, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Zola.

 Through year-round artist programs, the Institute also nurtured the early careers of artists such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Ryan Coogler, Nia DaCosta, The Daniels, David Gordon Green, Miranda July, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Boots Riley, Ira Sachs, Quentin Tarantino, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. Support Sundance Institute in our commitment to uplifting bold artists and powerful storytelling globally by making a donation at sundance.org/donate. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. For more information, email press@Sundance.org.