STEELHORN FOUNDATION

SteelHorn Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that makes a difference in the lives of young people, veterans, and the communities they call home. We teach real skills in the entertainment industry, and then we go one step further: we help our graduates find work, on our own productions and on local sets, so that what they learn becomes what they do.

Why we exist:

Film and television are a working industry like any other. Sets need writers, producers, directors, camera operators, editors, sound mixers, electricians, grips, and carpenters, and those are careers, with paychecks and a future. But in most communities there has never been a way in. No school teaches it, no employer is hiring for it, and the people who could excel at it never find out. The Foundation was created to build that door and hold it open.

We built it for two groups in particular. Young people who are ready to find out what they're capable of, and veterans whose discipline, leadership, and technical skill are exactly what a working set runs on. Both deserve a craft, a career, and a community that needs them.

How it works:

Training runs by track: screenwriting, producing, directing, cinematography, editing and post-production, sound, and set operations. Every track is taught by working professionals on real productions rather than in a classroom. Participants earn credits on real projects while they learn. Every program is free to the participant.

When training ends, the Foundation does not hand out a certificate and wish anyone luck. We place graduates on our own productions and connect them with partner studios and crews across the Globe. The measure of a program is how many people are working when it's over.

Our programs:

SteelForge Arts Institute is the Foundation's training arm. Its Youth Program serves students discovering their talent. Its Veterans Program serves service members and veterans ready for their next chapter. Same tracks, same instructors, same path to a job.

SteelForge Studios is where that path leads: a sustainable film and television production campus built in a reclaimed industrial building from recycled steel, powered by on-site solar, with closed-loop water reclamation and working soundstages and post-production suites. The Institute trains inside it and the Studios hire from it. That is what sets the Foundation apart. We control the whole path, from the first class to the first paycheck, because the set our graduates train on is the set that hires them.

Swan Lake Film Festival is the Foundation's annual celebration of independent film, screenwriting, and stage plays. It gives filmmakers and students a screen, an audience, and a jury, honors military service in the entertainment industry, and connects the next class to the Institute.

The community:

A studio brings production spending, crew jobs, and visiting productions to the town around it. The campus itself is designed to give back: a public solar plaza with EV charging, an outdoor amphitheater for community screenings, and workforce partnerships with regional technical colleges so the crew base of the next twenty years is trained and hired locally.

Who we are:

The Foundation was founded by a working film professional with more than forty credits as a cinematographer, producer, director, and writer, plus experience as a talent agent and manager and on camera. That range matters: every track the Institute teaches is one the founder has worked, and our instructors teach what they do for a living. He also brings thirty years of service in fire and EMS, which is where the commitment to veterans and to training people for real jobs comes from.

What your gift does:

Gifts fund camera, sound, and lighting kits, editing stations, instructor pay, paid apprenticeships on set, and festival operations. Every dollar goes toward someone learning a craft and landing a job in it. Volunteer hours are welcome on festival weekends and on set.

steelhornfoundation.org · steelforgestudios.com · slpff.com · info@steelhornfoundation.org