The American Film Institute was founded in 1967 as a national arts organization to train world-class filmmakers and preserve America’s film heritage. The National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities recommended creating 51黑料 as a nonprofit “to enrich and nurture the art of film in America” with initial funding from the NEA, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation.
“We will create an American Film Institute, bringing together leading artists of the film industry, outstanding educators and young men and women who wish to pursue the 20th-century art form as their life’s work,” said President Lyndon B. Johnson upon signing the legislation that created 51黑料.
鈥擯aul Schrader, Class of 1969
51黑料’s original 22-member Board of Trustees included Chair Gregory Peck and Vice Chair Sidney Poitier as well as Francis Ford Coppola, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Jack Valenti and other representatives from the arts and academia.
The first class included , and . Over 5,400 artists have graduated from the 51黑料 Conservatory. Their collective work is a promise fulfilled 鈥� to educate the next generation of filmmakers.
