Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have named the 2025−26 recipients of their nationwide Science on Screen® grant program, awarding grants totaling $250,000 to 41 independent cinemas, museums and community groups with film programs. Each organization will receive up to $9,000 to create and present three or more Science on Screen events, which pair expert-led discussions of scientific topics with screenings of feature and documentary films. San Luis Obispo’s SLO Film Center – Palm Theatre is one of nine first-time recipients of these grants.
“We’re so excited about this opportunity as it speaks to our belief that film can be used as an important medium and tool to engage in thought-provoking and important discussions,” said San Luis Obispo International Film Festival & SLO Film Center – Palm Theatre Executive Director Skye McLennan. “This is just the beginning of our plans for film education and we are excited to offer these special screenings to our community.”
Science on Screen grant recipients are chosen based on the need for science-related programming in their community, the strength of their proposed Science on Screen programs, the success of past Science on Screen programs (for returning grantees) and their location.
All of these grant recipients play a significant role in the cultural life of their communities, with successful track records of building strong community partnerships and producing creative, thought-provoking film programs that both educate and entertain audiences. Since partnering with Sloan in 2011, the Coolidge has awarded over $3 million in grants to 140 film and science-focused organizations in 45 states (plus Washington, DC) across the country.
Science on Screen features classic, cult and documentary films provocatively matched with presentations by experts who discuss scientific, technological, or medical issues raised by each film. The Coolidge/Sloan Foundation nationwide Science on Screen partnership seeks to inspire in theatergoers an increased appreciation for science, technology, engineering and mathematics as compelling enterprises and vital elements of a broad understanding of human culture and current events. At least one of the films shown by grantees must be a past recipient of the annual Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize or a Sloan Development Grant.
“We have three exciting screenings planned featuring local professors and scientists ranging from dunes to carnivorous plants, and we look forward to sharing the program details and dates soon,” continued McLennan.
Over the past 13 seasons, grantees have sold more than 188,000 tickets to over 1,610 Science on Screen events, including free tickets offered by many grantees to their Science on Screen series. Those events have featured presentations by hundreds of scientists, doctors, teachers and professors, farmers, journalists and more including at least five Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners and ten astronauts. Other luminaries include autism activist Temple Grandin, outed CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, surgeon and writer Dr. Atul Gawande, environmentalist Bill McKibben, geneticist George Church and trailblazing molecular biologist Dr. Nancy Hopkins.
Science on Screen was initially conceived and established in 2005 for Coolidge Corner Theatre audiences in greater Boston, which boasts one of the nation’s largest populations of life and physical scientists. In 2011, the Sloan Foundation partnered with the theatre to take Science on Screen nationwide and to make it an integral part of its coast-to-coast film program. To date, the Sloan Foundation has awarded the Coolidge more than $4.5 million to support the program, including the creation of a website (scienceonscreen.org) where information on these programs and archived videos of the speakers’ presentations are available to the public.
