Sikhs in Storytelling: Los Angeles

Your story is waiting to be told. Who gets to tell it?

For the third year running, SALDEF brings together the most dynamic cross-section of Sikh American writers, filmmakers, journalists, and creators in Southern California for an afternoon built around one mission: helping you claim your place in media.

This year, Sikhs in Storytelling plants its flag in Los Angeles: the creative capital of the world and launches a brand-new media track rooted right here in the LA community. 

Journalism matters. Authentic representation matters. The narratives that get told about our community from who tells them, and how they're framed, to where they live have direct, lasting consequences for how Sikh Americans are seen, treated, and protected in this country. From newsrooms to film sets to publishing houses, Sikhs have too long been written about rather than writing. Covered rather than covering. Cast rather than directing.

If you've ever wanted to publish a book, break into journalism, pitch a show, or simply see yourself reflected in the stories our culture celebrates, Sikhs in Storytelling was built for you.

SIKHS IN STORYTELLING IS FOR YOU IF YOU ARE A...

✦ Journalist, reporter, or media professional ✦ Published or aspiring author ✦ Filmmaker, director, or content creator ✦ Media or entertainment entrepreneur ✦ Community advocate or organizer ✦ Student or young creative ✦ Sikh family in Southern California ✦ Ally or supporter of Sikh voices in media

You don't need a finished book, a byline, or a production deal to belong in this room. 

You just need to believe your story matters because it does.

WHY THIS MOMENT, WHY LA

Los Angeles is the creative capital of the world. This is where films are greenlit, where publishing deals are shaped, where the next generation of journalists is cutting their teeth, and where cultural movements find their visual language. No city on earth has more power to determine whose stories get amplified and whose get erased.

Sikh Americans are one of the most educated, civically engaged, and brand-loyal communities in the United States and one of the most underrepresented in mainstream media. We are doctors, lawyers, engineers, veterans, and entrepreneurs. We are also writers, directors, journalists, and storytellers and it is time the creative capital of the world knew it.

THE IMPACT

Every time a Sikh journalist breaks a story, a Sikh author publishes a book, a Sikh director gets a greenlight, or a Sikh creator builds an audience: the entire community becomes more visible, more legible, and more protected. Sikhs in Storytelling exists to accelerate that momentum. To connect the Sikh Americans already doing this work with the ones who are ready to start. To make sure that the next generation of storytellers in the creative capital of the world knows: there is a community behind them.

SALDEF has spent 30 years proving that advocacy and storytelling are inseparable. Sikhs in Storytelling is proof of what that looks like in practice.

INTERESTED IN SPONSORING SIKHS IN STORYTELLING?

We offer community, presenting, and title sponsorship tiers, as well as custom in-kind and media partnership packages. All proceeds support SALDEF's civil rights and education programs.

Contact us at [email protected] to learn more.

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Host or Publisher SALDEF