Creative Director of Short Films & Original Cinema (Volunteer)

Mentor A Promise is a New York City–based nonprofit serving children and youth (ages 5–18) experiencing housing instability, grounded in the belief that every child is a Promise—full of potential, dignity, and possibility. We deliver consistent, high-quality programming across mentorship, literacy, social-emotional learning, and creative expression in shelters, schools, and community spaces, creating structured environments where students can grow, be seen, and build lasting skills. Through signature experiences like The Imagination Studio, The Kitchen Table, The Sound Lab, and The Story Space, we nurture academic development, emotional well-being, and creative voice, all within a trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and accessibility-centered framework. Our work prioritizes dignity-protective storytelling, consent-driven engagement, and deep community partnership, ensuring that how we serve is as intentional as whom we serve. We are not only addressing immediate needs - we are building pathways to confidence, belonging, and long-term opportunity, so every child has the support and foundation to carry their promise forward.
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Creative Director of Short Films & Original Cinema (Volunteer)
PromiseStudios | PromiseShorts, Short Films & Original Cinema
Organization Mentor A Promise (MAP)
Division PromiseStudios
Creative Initiative PromiseShorts
Location Remote with NYC-based production and collaboration as needed
Type Volunteer Creative Leadership Role
Commitment Approximately 5–10 hours per week, depending on production schedules
Minimum Commitment 6 months
About Mentor A Promise
Mentor A Promise (MAP) is a New York City–based nonprofit supporting children and youth ages 5–18 experiencing housing instability through mentorship, education, literacy, social-emotional learning, creative expression, storytelling, and community-centered opportunity.
Through PromiseStudios, MAP develops original films, animation, podcasts, documentaries, photography, music, and other creative media exploring childhood, belonging, imagination, identity, community, and the meaning of home.
About PromiseShorts
PromiseShorts is PromiseStudios’ home for original short-form cinema.
The initiative brings together filmmakers and artists to develop distinctive short films across
Live action
Animation
Stop motion
Documentary
Experimental and hybrid storytelling
Our goal is not simply to produce content. We want to develop original cinema with artistic identity, emotional depth, and stories worth remembering.
Role Overview
Mentor A Promise is seeking a Creative Director of Short Films & Original Cinema to lead the creative development and growth of PromiseShorts.
This person will have clear creative ownership of the PromiseShorts initiative—helping identify stories, develop concepts, assemble creative teams, guide productions, and establish a distinctive cinematic language for MAP's original short-form work.
The Creative Director will bring together specialized PromiseStudios talent—including writers, directors, filmmakers, animators, cinematographers, editors, composers, sound designers, illustrators, photographers, producers, and other collaborators—without replacing the leadership or ownership of those individual creative disciplines.
This is an opportunity to build an original short-film program from the ground up within a growing mission-driven creative studio.
Key Responsibilities
Creative Vision & Story Development
Lead the creative vision and development of PromiseShorts.
Identify, evaluate, and develop original concepts and stories.
Guide treatments, scripts, storyboards, visual references, and creative development.
Establish a distinctive cinematic identity for PromiseShorts.
Help determine which ideas should advance into production.
Protect the emotional integrity and artistic ambition of each project.
Explore stories that may grow across film, animation, publishing, audio, and other creative formats.
Film Development & Production
Guide projects from concept → development → pre-production → production → post-production → release.
Collaborate with directors, writers, cinematographers, animators, editors, composers, sound designers, producers, and other specialists.
Provide clear creative direction while respecting the expertise and ownership of individual artists.
Review cuts, performances, animation, music, sound, cinematography, and other creative elements as appropriate.
Help ensure every element serves the story rather than existing simply for visual or technical effect.
Maintain high standards for storytelling, craft, originality, and execution.
Build the PromiseShorts Team
Help recruit filmmakers, directors, writers, producers, and other creative collaborators.
Identify emerging artists whose perspectives and abilities could strengthen PromiseStudios.
Match creative talent with projects based on style, experience, and storytelling needs.
Mentor developing filmmakers and encourage meaningful artistic growth.
Build a collaborative environment where artists can challenge ideas, experiment, and produce ambitious work.
Help establish sustainable creative and production workflows as PromiseShorts grows.
Youth-Centered & Ethical Storytelling
Support projects that provide young people meaningful opportunities for voice, creativity, authorship, and artistic participation.
Ensure stories involving children, families, housing instability, or lived experience are approached with dignity and complexity.
Collaborate with appropriate MAP leadership on consent, safeguarding, privacy, and representation.
Avoid storytelling that sensationalizes hardship or reduces people to circumstances.
Help create stories that recognize young people's humor, imagination, relationships, fears, contradictions, ambitions, and full humanity.
Festivals, Screenings & Audience
Help identify appropriate film festivals, screenings, showcases, and exhibition opportunities.
Support preparation of selected work for festival and community presentation.
Collaborate with relevant MAP teams on trailers, key art, promotional materials, and release strategy.
Explore opportunities for educational and community use of appropriate films.
Help build an enduring audience for PromiseStudios Originals.
What We're Looking For
We welcome creative leaders with backgrounds in
Film directing
Creative direction
Short-film development
Screenwriting and story development
Animation or stop motion
Cinematography
Film editing
Documentary filmmaking
Producing
Visual storytelling
Children's or youth media
The strongest candidates will demonstrate an exceptional understanding of story, character, emotion, performance, visual language, composition, pacing, editing, music, and sound.
A strong portfolio, reel, filmography, or body of creative work is highly valued.
Formal Nonprofit Experience Is Not Required.
Ideal Candidate
You may be a strong fit if you
Think like a filmmaker and storyteller—not simply a content creator.
Believe a five-minute film can carry the emotional power of a feature.
Can recognize the cinematic potential hidden inside a simple idea.
Understand how writing, directing, performance, cinematography, animation, editing, music, and sound work together.
Can move thoughtfully across live action, animation, documentary, stop motion, and experimental forms.
Give clear, constructive, and inspiring creative direction.
Know when to push an idea further—and when to protect its simplicity.
Enjoy building teams and developing emerging artists.
Care deeply about representing children, families, and communities with dignity and complexity.
Want to help shape an emerging nonprofit creative studio with genuine artistic ambition.
What You Will Help Build
The goal is larger than producing individual short films.
You will help MAP build a growing library of PromiseStudios Originals—distinctive stories capable of living across cinema, animation, publishing, audio, education, festivals, community screenings, and other creative formats.
Over time, PromiseShorts should become a creative laboratory where filmmakers can experiment with form, discover new voices, develop original intellectual property, and create stories audiences remember.
What Success Looks Like
Success means
PromiseShorts develops a recognizable creative identity.
Strong ideas move through a disciplined development process.
Each film has clear creative leadership and ownership.
MAP builds a growing community of filmmakers and collaborators.
Emerging artists receive meaningful opportunities to develop their craft.
Productions become increasingly ambitious without sacrificing execution.
Young people's stories and participation are handled ethically and thoughtfully.
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Work arrangement
Yes