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The Gotham EDU Announces 2026 EDU Film and Media Career Development Program Cohort
The Gotham EDU Film and Media Career Development Program 2026 cohort The Gotham, Filmmaker’s publisher, announces today the cohort of the 2026 edition of The Gotham EDU Film and Media Career Development Program. The eight-week virtual program will allow college students from across the country to glean insight from industry professionals via opportunities that include mentorship, curated sessions, and pitch feedback.
Each student will pursue one of six distinct tracks offered in their field of interest: the Sidney Poitier Initiative Track for Multi-Hyphenates, the Executive Leadership and Ambassador Track, the Television/Episodic Creator Track, the Documentary Filmmaker Track, the Narrative Filmmaker Track, and the Entrepreneurship in Media Track. Among previous industry speakers are professionals from Netflix, MGM, MACRO, UTA, ColorCreative, NBCU, Blumhouse, NEON, SFFILM, Kinema, and WILLA, in addition to independent producers, television writers, and directors.
“Watching students arrive with a vision then leave with a real roadmap is what Gotham EDU is about,” said Kia Brooks, The Gotham’s Managing Director, via press release. “For our eighth cohort, one of the most diverse and driven we’ve seen, we’ve built tracks that reflect where the industry is actually heading. We can’t wait to see this group learn, connect, and elevate their careers.”
The Film and Media Career Development Program is supported through corporate, philanthropic, and institutional funds. The Burke Family Foundation, NBCUniversal, Colgate University, and Yale University are among the backers for the 2026 edition of the program. The SPI Track for Multi-Hyphenates is directly supported by the Sidney Poitier Initiative, and Joe and Christie Marchese support the Entrepreneurship in Media track. This combined support allows for the Career Development Program to provide full tuition for all 43 selected students from 31 colleges and universities.
“What keeps this program vital is the honesty and practicality of these resources—students get unfiltered access to professionals who tell them what the work really looks like,” said Jeffrey Sharp, The Gotham’s Executive Director, in the same release. “We’re proud of the incredible growth of the Gotham EDU Film and Media Career Development Program and the impact it continues to make on future leaders of the entertainment industry.”
The program will run from June 15 through August 6. 2026 marks the eighth edition, which originally began with 22 students in 2020. In order to provide access for students across the country, it will continue to be held virtually, though select students will be invited to attend this year’s Gotham Week, which will take place from September 27 through October 3. Participants in the Executive Leadership and Ambassador Track will also have the opportunity to shadow with companies like Storm City Films.
Find the 43 students selected for the Gotham EDU 2026 Career Development Program listed below:
Executive Ambassador Track
Ayana Ahuja
Brown University
Layla Santana
St. John’s University
Sierra Bleu Bivins
Emerson College
Executive Leadership Track
Ashley Dunbar
Colgate University
Ava Maire Mc Dermott
Pace University
Avantika Matele
Princeton University
Gabriela Acensio
Oglethorpe University
Nil Mira Celik
American University
Narrative Filmmaker Track
Chenjun Gao
Yale University
Eduardo Diaz Sandoval
New Mexico State University
Kai Tomizawa
New York University
Lynn Nguyen
Brown University
Nicholas Diodato
Rutgers University
Tramaine Raphael Gray
CalArts
Will Beere
Colgate University
SPI Track for Multi-Hyphenates
Amber Dhall
New York University
Brian Wade
Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema
Chiamaka Okafor
University of Connecticut
Ganiah Lucinda Bracy
Washington & Jefferson College
Grant Fortune
Howard University
Isabella Maaliki
New York University
Mareme Fall
Vassar College
Entrepreneurship in Media Track
Aric Julian Lopez
University of Southern California
Dominique de Castro
Columbia University
Kyara Gandara
San Diego State University
Mary Moussa
Hunter College
Saifeddine Lahmar
Northwestern University
Xavier Peng
Chapman University
Television/Episodic Creator Track
Amy B. Tiong
Northwestern University
Essence Jackson
Howard University
Haley Sakamoto
Stonybrook University
Kahley Burwell
Loyola Marymount University
Nathaniel Kron
Colgate University
Nicole Viloria
Yale
Trish Owyang
Columbia College Chicago
Documentary Filmmaker Track
Alexus Anderson
Georgia State University
Alice Adriana Estrada
Tufts University
Christian Lee
UCLA
Edward Nguyen
Yale
Joshua Jones
Colgate University
Kg Giroux
New York University
Logan R. St Hilaire
The Ohio State University
Toby Nicholson
Colgate University
