ARRAY Alliance is the left-of-center nonprofit arm of the set of film production companies that exist under filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY network. ARRAY produces films that aim to address race and social issues, particularly those that affect women and Black people. ¹

ARRAY Alliance organizes a program called ARRAY 101 that promotes left-of-center anti-racism and highlights racial and social issues that arise in ARRAY’s films. ^{2 3} In its “What is Caste” series, ARRAY 101 argued that America has a social hierarchy that resembles India’s caste system and that is comparable to Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish people. ⁴

Background

ARRAY Alliance is a left-of-center media organization that was founded in 2018 by filmmaker Ava DuVernay. It is the nonprofit arm of ARRAY Releasing, a for-profit film distribution company, and ARRAY Filmworks, DuVernay’s privately owned production company. In 2016, Ford Foundation president Darren Walker paid for a consultant to assist DuVernay in creating a nonprofit arm of her distribution companies that led to the founding of ARRAY Alliance. ^{5 1}

ARRAY Alliance and its sister organizations operate under ARRAY Creative Campus, which was founded in 2011 to promote films that advocate for left-wing social and racial issues by hosting the production of like-minded films. The groups work to produce, acquire, distribute, and market films made by women and ethnic minorities that it claims addresses issues facing Black women. ¹

Programs

ARRAY 101

ARRAY 101 is an online education platform hosted by ARRAY Alliance that provides “learning guides” for films produced by ARRAY Releasing and ARRAY Filmworks, its for-profit sister organizations. It provides a framework for using the films to learn about ARRAY’s advocacy in support of race and gender issues. ³ In 2023, ARRAY Alliance reported that it spent $11.9 million on ARRAY 101, making up 69 percent of its total expenditures. ⁶

ARRAY 101’s guide that it published for the film ORIGIN promoted the idea that caste systems exist “everywhere” and that “social systems” should be scrutinized for how they can be oppressive. It argued the qualities of the Indian systems are existent in “all societies” and instructs viewers of ORIGIN to criticize American social systems for oppressing immigrants and Black people through a political hierarchy. ²

“Queen Sugar” is a television series produced by Ava DuVernay that has an accompanying “learning guide” published by ARRAY 101. The guide outlines how the set and setting for the show is on a location of a former plantation. It also discusses the history of slavery and the Jim Crow era. ⁷ Using the history of slavery and lynchings, the “Queen Sugar” lesson guide associated the Jim Crow era with ownership of former plantations, encouraging viewers to understand land disputes like the one shown in the series as an “extension” of Jim Crow-era violence against Black people. ⁸

ARRAY Crew

ARRAY Crew is an ARRAY Alliance project that hosts a database of ethnic minority and women film-crew professionals to be used to increase the rate in which ethnic minorities and women are hired. It reports that Warner Brothers, Discovery, A24, Amazon Studios, Apple TV+, Disney, FOX, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, and Sony Pictures Entertainment are amongst the most prominent media companies that use ARRAY Crew’s database in their hiring. ⁹

In 2023, ARRAY Alliance reported it spent $1.4 million on its ARRAY Crew program. ⁶

As of October 2025, ARRAY Crew reported having over 10,000 crew members and 2,000 producers and department heads, and having worked with over 1,000 productions. ¹⁰ ARRAY Crew members credited ARRAY Crew with gaining employment, claiming that employers had not shown interest prior to them joining ARRAY Crew’s membership. ¹¹

Grantmaking

ARRAY Alliance has several grantmaking programs that it organizes to fund films, and it performs the grantmaking activities on behalf of the ARRAY network. It reports on its website that the programming changes each year, depending on what films are available and how they would support ARRAY’s advocacy, and are reported to be “unrestricted.” ¹² In 2023, ARRAY Alliance expended $501,000 in grants, according to its tax returns; it made out a $500,000 grant to fund the film Every Day in Kaimuki through its grantmaking partnership with Google. ¹³

Funding

The MacArthur Foundation reported that it made a $2 million grant to ARRAY Alliance in 2023 and another two-year $500,000 grant in 2024. Both  were listed as being for “general operations.” ¹⁴

In 2024, ARRAY Alliance received a $1 million grant from the Ford Foundation in support of its film ORIGIN. ¹⁵ The film was produced by ARRAY Alliance’s for-profit sister organizations ARRAY Releasing and ARRAY Filmworks and was reported to be financed using ARRAY Alliance’s nonprofit funding. ORIGIN discusses the history of the United States, India, and Nazi Germany to compare alleged similarities between India’s caste system and Nazi Germany and the United States. ⁴

Leadership

Filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer Ava DuVernay is the founder and as of 2025 was the president of ARRAY Alliance as well as the other sister organizations in the ARRAY network. She is best known for producing her Oscar-winning film Selma, as well as 13th and the Disney film A Wrinkle in Time. DuVernay’s films are known for their promotion of left-of-center social issues. She also is a board member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the American Film Institute. ¹⁶

Financials

In 2023, ARRAY Alliance reported $12.7 million in total revenue and $17.3 million in total expenses, $2.2 million of which was salaries and compensation of employees. ¹⁷ It also reported $10.7 million in management fees to non-employees, according to its tax return. ¹⁸

1. Faughnder, Ryan. “Ava DuVernay’s Array is a place for women and filmmakers of color in L.A.” Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2019-10-01/array-alliance-ava-duvernay.
2. “What is Caste.” ARRAY 101. Accessed October 16, 2025. https://origin101.org/what-is-caste/.
3. “ARRAY 101.” ARRAY Now. Accessed October 16, 2025. https://arraynow.com/array-alliance/array-101/.
4. Bank, David and Price, Dennis. “With Array, Ava DuVernay has the influence and infrastructure to drive impact through film.” Impact Alpha. June 10, 2024. https://impactalpha.com/ava-duvernay-impact-filmmaking/.
5. “Out Story.” ARRAY Alliance. Accessed October 10, 2025. https://arraynow.com/about-array/. 
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Array Alliance Inc. 2023. Part III.
7. “Lesson One: Legacy of the Land.” ARRAY 101. Accessed October 17, 2025. https://queensugar101.org/lesson-one.
8. “Lesson One: Module Two.” ARRAY Alliance. Accessed October 17, 2025. https://queensugar101.org/lesson-one/module-two.
9. “About Us.” ARRAY Crew. Accessed October 17, 2025. https://arraycrew.com/about-us/.
10. “Our Impact.” ARRAY Crew. Accessed October 21, 2025. https://arraycrew.com/overview.
11. “Success Stories.” ARRAY Crew. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://arraycrew.com/success-stories.
12. “Array Grants: We See You, We Hear You.” ARRAY Alliance. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://arraynow.com/array-alliance/array-grants/.
13. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). ARRAY Alliance Inc. 2023. Schedule I.
14. “ARRAY Alliance Inc.” MacArthur Foundation. Accessed October 26, 2025. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/array-alliance-inc-10116020/.
15. “Core Support for the ORIGIN’s Social Impact Campaign.” Ford Foundation. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/array-alliance-inc-142356/.
16. “ARRAY Alliance: Board of Directors.” ARRAY Alliance. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://arraynow.com/array-alliance/board-of-directors/.
17. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Array Alliance Inc. 2023. Part I, Lines 12-18.
18. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Array Alliance Inc. 2023. Part IX, Line 11a.