ARTS
BendFilm Festival: Turning Inspiration into Impact
Since 2018, NewSun has donated $50,000 to the BendFilm Festival. We sponsor the BIPOC Women Filmmaker Grant, supporting both emerging and established artists. This program elevates underrepresented voices and helps bring stories from marginalized communities to the screen.
NewSun’s annual sponsorship also includes the Environmental/Outdoor Film Program, which showcases films exploring the complex relationship between humans and nature. In 2023, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s powerful documentary The Grab received both the Environmental/Outdoor Program Award and the Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film.
NewSun x BendFilm - Paddle Tribal Waters
NewSun Energy CEO, Jake Stephens, shares the story of how a conversation with filmmaker Rush Sturges at BendFilm led to seed funding that helped launch the Paddle Tribal Waters initiative. Years later, the program is still going strong, and tribal students are preparing for a first descent down the Klamath River following the largest dam removal in U.S. history.
NewSun x BendFilm - Youth Unstoppable
The film "Youth Unstoppable” about a filmmaker's journey through rural agriculture communities around the world to observe the impacts of climate change helped inspire NewSun’s Climate & Ag Scholarship program.
Open Arts Center
The Open Arts Center (OAC) is a new nonprofit creative arts center that will provide free and accessible after school programming, self-directed learning, and community-sourced mentorship for Central Oregon’s teens.
OAC is dedicating half of the center to adult working artists and creative community members who will have the opportunity to rent studio space, providing a stable funding stream to sustain the organization. NewSun’s donation helped pay for construction of the art studios.
OAC plans to open their doors in early 2026. Learn more here.
All Arts Donations
2025
Open Arts Center
BendFilm Festival
2018-2024
BendFilm Festival
Alger Community Theatre
World Muse