The current organization we call Arts Engine began under the leadership of co-founders Katy Chevigny and Julia Pimsleur in 1997 when they formed a partnership to create social issue documentaries. These two engaged social activists developed the core values and beliefs that have informed all of the projects since then and that make up Arts Engine’s powerful mission today. Eight feature-length documentaries by Arts Engine’s production arm, Big Mouth, have been created since 1997, winning prestigious awards, gaining national recognition, and, as was the case with the Emmy-nominated film Deadline, reaching audiences in the millions. Arctic Son and Election Day, two new Big Mouth films, are slated for public broadcasting in 2007 and 2008.

In 2000, during the height of the internet boom, Chevigny and Pimsleur were among the first to realize that social issue filmmaking was taking a dramatic turn. A new culture was emerging that would entirely change the face of media from televised monologues to internet-driven dialogues. And electronically facilitated dialogue and distribution channels opened opportunities to build online communities where no community existed before. Committed to breaking down traditional hierarchies and status-markers, Arts Engine launched one of the only online commons for filmmakers and activists, called MediaRights.org, and created what is now the most comprehensive database of social issue documentaries in the nation, and possibly the world, with over 6,000 films registered. The success of this site led to the creation of the Youth Media Distribution Initiative (YMDi.org). They also developed and launched the Media That Matters Film Festival, one of the first online film festivals, and realized the incredible potential for online showcasing and distribution. Now in its seventh year, the festival reaches hundreds of thousands of people annually and hosts hundreds of internet pages of information with “Take Action Links” on everything from AIDS in Africa, to water rights in Michigan, to the youth vote, LGBT issues, and sustainability. The ballast for this intense activism from the early beginnings in 1997 to today is the belief that exemplary visual storytelling on social issues can make change.